FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 


REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,  D.  D. 


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BEQUEATHED    BY  HIM   TO 

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THE    MAKING   OF   T 


ENGLAND  OF  ELIZABETH 


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ALLEN    B.    HINDS,   B.A. 


SCHOLAR   OF   CHRIST   CHURCH,    OXFORD.        STANHOPE   ESSAY    1892 


Ketu  §£ork 
MACMILLAN    AND   CO. 

1895 


PREFACE 

In  offering  this  little  book  to  the  public,  I  will  not  venture 
to  apologize  for  its  numerous  shortcomings  and  faults,  of 
which  I  am  but  too  painfully  conscious.  I  dare  to  hope  that 
it  may  be  found  to  throw  some  additional  light  upon  an 
important  period  of  our  national  history.  This  work  has 
been  compiled  almost  exclusively  from  original  materials  and 
contemporary  documents.  Although  most  of  these  are  printed 
and  readily  accessible,  yet  surprisingly  little  use  has  been  made 
of  them.  As  it  has  been  thought  unadvisable  to  overcharge 
the  text  with  notes,  some  account  of  these  authorities  may  not 
be  out  of  place  in  this  preface. 

The  material  for  Chapters  II.  and  III.  has  been  almost 
entirely  drawn  from  a  book,  published  anonymously,  entitled 
"A  Brieff  Discourse  of  the  Troubles  begun  at  Frankfort." 
This  first  appeared  in  15G4,  having  been  published  with  a 
controversial  purpose.  The  author  claims  to  be  impartial,  but 
his  bias  towards  the  Puritans  is  absolutely  unmistakable. 
Although  his  name  has  never  appeared  on  the  title-page  of  his 
book,  it  is  fairly  clear,  from  internal  evidence,  that  he  was  none 
other  than  William  "Whittingham  himself.      From  this  source 


iv  Preface. 

the  Church  historians,  Fuller,  Heylin,  and  Collier,  have  all 
drawn  their  information.  Naturally  they  look  upon  the 
events  from  a  different  standpoint,  and  it  is  no  small  tribute 
to  Whittingham's  veracity,  that  they  are  able  to  do  so  without 
in  the  least  adding  to  or  taking  away  from  his  narrative. 

The  edition  of  which  I  have  made  use  is  one  published  at 
London  in  1827.  The  pagination  of  the  original  edition  has 
been  preserved.  In  the  modest  but  valuable  preface  are 
quoted  the  arguments  in  favour  of  Whittingham's  authorship, 
together  with  an  interesting  passage  from  Calderwood's  History 
relating  the  history  of  Kuox's  departure  from  Frankfort  in  the 
Reformer's  own  words.  Of  this  passage  I  have  made  a  free  use 
on  pp.  27-29 . 

To  correct  and  supplement  the  "Troubles  at  Frankfort" 
there  remains,  unfortunately,  but  very  little.  The  four  volumes 
of  Zurich  letters  (Parker  Society)  are  surprisingly  reticent  on 
the  subject,  though  the  self-exculpatory  letters  of  Cox  and  White- 
head to  Calvin  (p.  31)  are  of  great  interest  and  importance. 
The  two  latter  volumes  contain  letters  relating  to  the  life  of 
the  exiles  at  Zurich  (p.  44),  and  some  few  particulars  of  their 
return  home  on  hearing  the  news  of  Mary's  death.  Strype,  in 
his  Memorials,  has  preserved  an  interesting  letter  of  Fox  (p.  23). 
The  anonymous  "  Life  of  Whittingham  "  (Camden  Society) 
contains  practically  nothing  about  the  exile,  but  it  gives  a  few 
particulars  of  the  Dean's  flight  from  England,  as  well  as  of  the 
translation  of  the  Bible.  McCrie's  "  Life  of  Knox,"  like  the 
rest  of  the  later  authorities,  adds  nothing  to  the  information 
given  by  the  contemporary  writers. 

For  the  history  of  the  Church  at  Geneva  I  am  chiefly 


Preface.  v 

indebted  to  the  article  "Versions"  in  the  late  Dr.  Smith's 
"  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  to  an  edition  of  the  "  Breeches  " 
Bible  in  my  possession,  to  Dr.  Grote's  "Dictionary  of  Music" 
(Old  Hundredth),  and  to  Strype's  "  Life  of  Grindal."  A  rare 
pamphlet,  entitled  "  Livre  des  Anglois  a  Geneva,"  contains  a 
list  of  all  the  members  of  this  Church,  the  dates  of  their 
admission,  the  names  of  the  office-bearers,  and  a  register  of 
births,  marriages,  and  deaths.  It  is  enriched  by  some  valuable 
notes  by  Mr.  J.  S.  Burn,  dealing  with  the  history  of  the 
principal  persons  mentioned  in  it.  The  "  Troubles  at  Frank- 
fort "  is  again  of  the  greatest  value. 

Diplomatic  sources  contribute  to  form  almost  the  whole  of 
Chapter  IV.  They  are  contained  in  the  Calendars  of  State 
Papers  published  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  in  the  "  Ambassades 
de  Noailles,"  and  in  some  letters  of  De  Selva,  published  by 
Eibier.  Of  the  English  Calendars  by  far  the  most  important 
is  that  entitled  "Mary,  1553-8:  Foreign."  It  contains  the 
whole  of  the  correspondence  between  the  English  Ambassador 
in  France,  Dr.  Wotton,  and  the  English  Court.  Very  little 
seems  to  have  escaped  Wotton's  observation,  and  his  letters  are 
full  of  the  doings  of  Carew,  of  the  Killigrews,  Staffords,  and 
Henry  Dudley.  He  supplies  us  with  a  complete  exposure  of 
the  plots  of  the  exiles  and  of  King  Henry  II.'s  secret  dealings 
with  them.  The  "  Ambassades  de  Noailles,"  as  published  by 
the  Abbe  Yertot,  show  no  trace  of  this.  They,  indeed,  make 
mention  of  Mary's  anger  at  the  harbouring  of  rebels  in  France  ; 
they  contain  Xoailles's  bland  assurances  that  this  really  was 
not  the  case  ;  and  nothing  more.  To  judge  by  this  plausible 
correspondence,  one  might  conclude  that  no  persons  were  more 

a  3 


vi  Preface. 

innocent  than  Henry  and  his  ambassador,  and  that  the  reports 
of  Wotton  and  the  anger  of  Mary  merely  proceeded  from  a 
disordered  imagination.  Fortunately,  I  have  come  across  a 
supplement  to  this  correspondence,  that  throws  quite  another 
light  on  the  subject. 

At  the  Ministere  des  Affaires  Etrangeres  at  Paris  are  two 
volumes,  labelled  respectively  "  Angleterre  14  (1553-6),"  and 
"  Memoires  et  Documents,  Espagne,  229."  The  former  volume 
contains  nothing  but  copies,  for  the  original  letters  of  Noailles 
perished,  I  believe,  in  the  fires  of  the  Commune.  This 
collection  does  not  represent  the  material  used  by  the  Abbe 
Vertot,  and  many  passages  are  but  excerpts.  In  the  absence 
of  any  indication  as  to  their  origin,  it  seems  to  me  that  they 
may  have  been  cut  out  from  the  manuscripts  of  Abbe  Vertot 's 
book  as  matter  unfit  for  publication.  This  supposition  is  some- 
what strengthened  by  the  fact  that  each  page  is  crossed  out  in 
black  pencil. 

The  extracts  begin  in  February,  1553,  and  continue  till 
May,  1554.  There  is  then  a  break  until  November,  1556,  but 
the  remaining  notes  are  scattered,  though  they  describe  some 
interesting  episodes — the  invasion*  of  Stafford,  his  speech  on  the 
scaffold  (p.  100),  and  Mary's  state  of  fear  and  unrest  (p.  111). 
The  letters  dealing  with  Carew  are  the  most  interesting,  and 
completely  justify  all  Wotton's  reports.  It  is  only  too  evident 
that  King  Henry  and  his  ambassador  were  conspiring  to 
hoodwink  the  English  Government. 

The  Spanish  documents  are  of  a  less  striking  nature. 
They  consist  mainly  of  copies  from  the  correspondence  of 
Charles  Y.  and  Philip  with  Renard.      As  far  as  the  English 


Preface.  vii 

exiles  are  concerned,  the  Spanish  ambassador  evidently  owes 
his  information  to  Wotton.  Many  of  those  letters  are  printed 
in  the  Granvelle  Papers.  Among  these  copies  is  one  original  that 
calls  for  special  notice.  It  relates  the  arrival  of  several 
English  refugees  in  France,  and  goes  on  to  describe  the  reception 
of  Carew  at  the  French  Court  (p.  73).  I  should  be  completely 
at  a  loss  were  I  called  upon  to  classify  this  extraordinary 
paper  as  a  diplomatic  document. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  materials  with  winch 
I  have  had  to  deal  are  the  Venetian  State  Papers.  Less  stiff 
and  formal  than  most  of  the  diplomatic  correspondence,  they 
seem  instinct  with  life,  and  afford  a  most  vivid  picture  of  the 
period  with  which  they  deal.  For  the  years  1553-8,  within 
which  my  subject  is  included,  there  are  two  volumes,  numbered 
Y.  and  VI.,  the  latter  in  three  parts.  They  contain  the 
despatches  of  the  Venetian  ambassadors  in  England  during 
this  time — of  Soranzo  (till  Aug.,  1554),  of  Michiel  (Aug.,  1554- 
May,  1557),  and  of  Surian  (April,  1557,  to  the  end),  as  well  as 
Soranzo's  letters  from  France,  to  which  country  he  went  as 
ambassador  on  leaving  England.  There  are  several  letters  of 
Cardinal  Pole,  and  two  interesting  communications  from 
Annibale  Litolfi. 

These  papers  contain  very  little  about  Carew,  but  abound 
with  information  on  the  raids  of  the  pirates,  on  Dudley's  plots, 
and  on  the  invasion  of  Stafford.  They  give  the  only  account 
we  have  of  the  defeat  of  Peter  Killigrew  in  the  Channel 
(p.  82). 

The  other  authorities  were  merely  supplementary.  De 
Selva's  correspondence  (Ribier,  Paris,  1666)  serves  to  illustrate 


viii  Preface. 

the  alarm  felt  by  France  at  the  proposed  marriage  of  Philip 
and  Mary,  and  her  intention  to  do  her  utmost  to  prevent  it. 
The  Calendars  of  State  Papers,  Domestic,  1547-1603,  Addenda, 
for  nearly  the  same  period,  and  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council, 
supply  a  few  facts  here  and  there.  Machyn's  Diary  is  exceed- 
ingly disappointing,  and  gives  little  more  than  the  names  of 
those  executed  for  entering  Scarborough.  Vowel's  "Life  of 
Carew,"  edited  by  Maclean,  and  the  same  work  in  vol.  xxviii. 
of  the  "  Archgeologia,"  both  pass  over  the  period  of  exile  in  a  few 
lines,  and  claim  the  complete  innocence  of  their  hero.  The 
other  authorities  for  the  period  are  even  less  satisfactory.  I 
have  searched  Lingard,  Sharon  Turner,  Godwin,  Tytler,  in 
vain.  Griffet's  "  Nouveaux  Eclaircissements  sur  l'Histoire  de 
Marie "  (Amsterdam,  1766)  are  simply  culled  from  the 
"  Ambassades  de  Noailles." 

For  Chapter  V.  I  am  again  chiefly  indebted  to  the  Venetian 
ambassadors.  Supplementary  authorities  have  been  Strype's 
"  Memorials  "  for  Plowden,  the  "  Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane  and 
Queen  Mary  "  (Camden  Society),  and  Cobbett's  "  Parliamentary 
History."  In  every  part  of  this  work  I  have  made  use  of  the 
"  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  and  my  only  regret  has 
been  that  more  volumes  were  not  published. 

In  a  subject  of  this  kind,  much  labour  has  necessarily  been 
thrown  away.  Besides  fruitless  searchings  in  the  royal 
correspondence  at  the  Bibliotheque  Rationale,  Paris,  and  in  the 
royal  accounts  at  the  Archives  Rationales,  of  the  same  city,  I 
have  waded  through  the  voluminous  works  of  Jewel,  Grindal, 
Fox,  and  Becon,  in  the  vain  hope  of  finding  something  bearing 
on  my  subject. 


Preface.  ix 

In  conclusion,  I  cannot  but  express  my  gratitude  to  all 
librarians,  both  English  and  foreign,  with  whom  it  has  been 
my  good  fortune  to  come  into  contact.  But  in  a  very  special 
manner  my  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Arthur  Hassall,  Student  and 
Tutor  of  Christ  Church,  not  only  for  the  encouragement  he 
has  given  me  in  the  preparation  of  this  book,  but  for  the 
cheerful  way  in  which  he  accepted  the  arduous  task  of  revising 
dull  and  uninteresting  proof-sheets. 

ALLEX  B.  HINDS. 

December,  1894. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Introduction 1 

II.    The  Troubles  at  Frankfort 8 

III.  The  Troubles  at  Frankfort— (Cnntimwl)  ....  47 

IV.  The  Exiles  in  France 68 

V.     The  New  Spirit  in  England 105 

VI.    Conclusion 134 

Index 147 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

There  is  no  period  of  our  history  to  which  Englishmen  look 
back  with  so  much  satisfaction  as  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
and  no  other  of  which  we  may  be  more  justly  proud.  In 
every  branch  of  the  national  life  to  which  we  turn  we  meet 
with  the  same  characteristics  which  serve  to  distinguish  the 
epoch.  The  whole  nation  seems  rejuvenated,  the  men  of 
the  time  seem  to  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  joy  and  of  unusual 
exuberance.  Liberty,  contentment,  an  intense  patriotism 
and  a  loyalty  amounting  almost  to  a  passion,  reign  every- 
where. 

What,  however,  is  more  striking  than  even  this  ex- 
travagant joyfulness,  this  youthful  delight  in  living  and 
breathing,  is  its  sudden  appearance  at  a  time  when,  accord- 
ing to  all  outward  appearances,  it  might  least  have  been 
expected.  A  more  unlikely  prologue  to  the  glories  of  Eliza- 
beth could  scarcely  be  found  than  the  reigns  of  her  sickly 
brother  and  of  her  bigoted  and  infatuated  sister.  Henry 
VIII.  had  indeed  aspired  to  be  the  arbiter  between  the  two 
great  sovereigns  of  the  Continent,  but  in  this  ambition  he 
had  undoubtedly  failed.  Under  the  nominal  government  of 
Edward  VI.  the  nation  proved  incapable  of  maintaining  its 
dignity  abroad.  Under  Mary  England  was  in  very  real 
danger  of  sinking  into  a  Spanish  province,  and  towards  the 
end  of  her  reign,  Calais,  the  great  outlet  for  our  commerce, 

B 


2  Inglorious  reigns  of  Edward  and  Mary. 

and  the  reputed  key  of  the  country,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
French.  At  home  the  condition  of  affairs  was  hardly  better. 
Under  Edward  the  country  was  ruled  by  a  coterie  of  Pro- 
testants, while  under  Mary  it  was  the  prey  of  a  clique  of 
Catholics,  neither  party  considering  anything  but  their  own 
interests,  and  determined  to  ruin  or  to  rule  the  state.  Two 
Venetian  ambassadors,  men  renowned  for  acute  and  accurate 
observation,  have  left  us  detailed  descriptions  of  our  country 
and  of  the  manners  of  Englishmen  during  the  second  quarter 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  They  agree  in  describing  the  mass 
of  the  people  as  restless,  impatient  of  control,  and  ready  >to 
revolt.  Less  than  fifty  years  before  the  exploits  of  Drake  and 
the  appearance  of  the  works  of  Spenser  and  Shakespeare, 
Soranzo  writes  that  the  English  have  no  taste  for  war  or  for 
literature  !  After  such  a  declaration  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
insist  further  on  this  very  remarkable  contrast.  A  more 
profitable  task  will  be  to  examine,  as  far  as  possible,  the  causes 
which  combined  to  produce  a  change  so  startling  and  so 
complete.  In  the  following  pages  it  will  be  my  object  to  show, 
as  far  as  I  may,  how  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  was  prepared  under 
the  government  of  her  predecessors,  and  to  what  extent  the 
glories  of  her  age  were  due  to  the  tribulations  that  had 
preceded. 

In  the  matter  of  religion,  it  has  been  freely  admitted  on 
all  sides  that  Elizabeth  profited  by  a  reaction  from  the  cruelties 
of  Mary,  which  enabled  her  to  found  a  strong  Protestant 
Church  with  the  consent  of  the  large  majority  of  Englishmen. 
Incontestable  as  this  may  seem  to  be,  it  is  not  the  whole  truth. 
The  reaction  extended  into  other  things,  and  not  only  this,  but 
reaction  itself  explains  but  a  small  part  of  the  difficulty.  The 
elements  of  opposition  to  Mary,  forced  to  take  refuge  abroad, 
had  there  become  profoundly  modified,  while  their  fundamental 
hatred  for  the  principles  of  the  government  which  had  exiled 
them  became  stronger  and  more  bitter.  It  is  therefore  among 
those  who  fled  for  their  lives  on  the  accession  of  Mary  that  we 


Introduction*  3 

must  look  for  the  germs  of  those  characteristics  which  serve 
to  distinguish  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

If  we  ask  what  were  those  features  which  chiefly  strike  us 
in  the  England  of  Elizabeth,  and  which  we  do  not  find  under 
her  predecessors,  it  seems  that  they  may  be  classified  under 
three  heads.  Of  these  perhaps  the  most  important  is  the 
settlement  of  the  Church  effected  by  the  queen  herself.  Eliza- 
beth was  determined  to  enforce  outward  uniformity  in  religion, 
and,  whatever  else  she  had  in  view,  this  was  her  chief  aim. 
But  the  mere  fact  of  defining  the  limits  of  the  Established 
Church,  shut  many  men,  who  had  strong  opinions  of  their  own, 
outside  its  pale.  A  large  number  of  Roman  Catholics  refused 
to  acknowledge  the  queen  as  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church, 
and  continued  to  look  to  the  Pope  as  their  spiritual  chief.  On 
the  other  hand,  many  Protestants  did  not  think  the  reforma- 
tion in  England  had  been  carried  far  enough,  wished  for  more 
simplicity  in  the  forms  of  worship,  and  denounced  the  new 
Church  as  an  unholy  compromise  with  the  Papists. 

Of  hardly  less  consequence  in  the  annals  of  the  reign  is  the 
sudden  appearance  of  the  peculiar  but  effective  maritime 
activity  of  those  licensed  rovers  and  freebooters — the  sea-dogs 
whose  activity  culminated  gloriously  in  the  irregular  running- 
fight  in  the  Channel  known  as  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish 
Armada. 

Finally,  to  complete  the  period,  as  it  were,  to  hand  on 
its  life  and  colour  to  posterity,  we  have  the  great  literary 
movement,  including  among  its  worthies  such  giants  as  Spenser, 
Bacon,  and  Shakespeare. 

But  in  the  midst  of  these  various  manifestations  of  national 
energy  were  sentiments  pervading  them  all  which  gave  unity 
to  them  and  strength  to  the  country.  Although  Roman 
Catholics  and  Puritans  might  seem  to  be  in  opposition  to  the 
laws,  because  they  would  not  accept  the  Establishment  ; 
although  the  sea-dogs  might  appear  to  be  no  better  than 
lawless  pirates,  obnoxious  to  all  governments  ;  and  although 


4  Loyalty  and  Patriotism  under  Elizabeth. 

great  literary  activity  is  generally  a  sign  of  great  liberty,  if 
not  licence,  of  thought,  joined  with  an  impatience  of  control ; 
yet,  in  spite  of  the  union  of  all  these  sentiments  ordinarily  so 
hostile  to  sovereignty,  we  find  no  outburst  of  rebellion,  and 
no  hatred  of  the  government.  On  the  contrary,  the  one 
sentiment  that  animated  all  Englishmen  in  those  days,  irre- 
spective of  creed  or  calling,  was  an  intense  love  for  their 
country,  and  a  profound  loyalty  for  their  queen.  A  Puritan 
bishop,  enjoined  to  carry  out  customs  distasteful  to  him, 
grumbled  but  obeyed ;  a  pirate,  scolded  for  his  excesses,  and 
denounced  to  his  enemies,  found  the  means  to  force  the  hand 
of  the  Queen  and  aid  her  in  spite  of  herself  ;  and  a  zealous 
pamphleteer,  mutilated  for  writing  too  freely,  could  cry  out 
"  God  save  the  Queen  "  immediately  after  the  execution  of  the 
sentence.  In  ;the  higher  literature  of  the  time  the  passionate 
feeling  of  patriotism  finds  expression,  joined  with  a  proud 
feeling  of  independence  and  power,  of  which  many  examples 
might  be  quoted  from  Shakespeare — 

"  Come  the  three  corners  of  the  world  in  arms, 
And  we  shall  shock  them  :  None  shall  make  us  rue, 
If  England  to  itself  do  rest  but  true." 

Of  the  three  features  which  I  have  ventured  to  indicate  as 
characteristic  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  literary  movement 
is  so  completely  a  child  of  the  time,  and  at  once  its  expression 
and  outcome,  that  it  may  be  dismissed  very  summarily. 

It  would  appear  as  if  in  England,  contrary  to  that  which 
had  happened  elsewhere,  the  Eeform  preceded  the  Renaissance. 
The  wonderful  outburst  of  wit  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  was 
due  to  a  wise  and  prosperous  government,  which  though  not 
unmolested  by  serious  difficulties,  won  additional  lustre  from 
having  successfully  encountered  them.  In  other  countries 
the  rulers  had  usually  taken  up  letters  with  eagerness  only  to 
be  the  more  embittered  against  the  reform  which  operated  in 
spite  of  them,  and  most  frequently  against  their  interests.  In 
England  the  Reform  had  been  taken  up  by  the  sovereign,  and 


Introduction.  5 

carried  through  with  a  careful  regard  at  least  for  legal  forms 
aud  observances.  The  Renaissance  therefore  proceeded  like 
the  kindred  and  stronger  movement,  and,  with  such  legal 
and  regular  traditions,  it  was  natural  that  it  should  be  loyal 
and  patriotic. 

For  the  other  and  more  important  features  of  the  reign  it 
is  necessary  to  seek  an  explanation  in  events  which  took 
place  during  the  reign  of  Mary. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   TROUBLES  AT   FRANKFORT. 

When  Edward  VI.  died  the  religious  question  was  far  from 
being  settled.  Throughout  his  reign  the  Protestants  had 
shown  great  activity,  they  had  endeavoured  to  fit  the  creed  of 
the  nation  to  the  bed  of  their  own  dogmas,  and  they  had 
provided  their  new  Church  with  a  definite  belief  and  cere- 
monial. But  their  position  was  a  precarious  one.  They  formed 
but  a  small  minority  in  a  nation  in  the  main  hostile  to  innova- 
tion, and  they  owed  their  power  solely  to  the  support  of  the 
government.  Their  isolation  must  have  served  to  keep  them 
outwardly  united  ;  but  even  the  pressure  of  opposition  could 
not  altogether  disguise  the  fact  that  the  Eeformers  were 
divided  among  themselves,  and  even  before  the  accession  of 
Mary  serious  disputes  had  arisen  on  the  question  of  ceremonial 
observances.  On  the  Continent  the  doctrines  of  Luther, 
Calvin,  and  Zwingle  all  differed  considerably,  and  by  the  com- 
pilation of  the  Prayer-book  yet  another  system,  differing  from 
each  of  the  others,  was  established. 

From  very  early  times  the  Universities  had  become  the 
centres  of  the  reforming  movement.  It  was  there  that  the 
chief  reformers  were  stationed,  and  there  they  lodged  and 
entertained  those  foreigners  who  assisted  them  in  establishing 
the  new  doctrines  in  England. 

At  Oxford  the  chief  of  the  English  reformers  was  the 
Bean  of  Christ  Church,  one  Dr.  Richard  Cox,  who  for  six 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  y 

years  (1547-1552)  had  been  Chancellor  of  the  University. 
During  his  term  of  office  he  had  shown  unbounded  zeal  in  the 
destruction  of  everything  that  seemed  to  savour  of  popery. 
So  great,  indeed,  was  his  activity,  that  the  wits  of  the  time, 
making  a  slight  alteration  in  his  title,  dubbed  him  the  "  Can- 
cellor."  His  work,  however,  had  by  no  means  been  entirely 
destructive.  He  had  taken  a  more  prominent  part  in  the 
work  of  reconstruction  than  many  of  the  Reformers,  and  had 
been  a  leading  member  of  the  Commissions  which  had  drawn 
up  and  revised  the  English  Prayer-book  in  1548  and  1552. 

Round  the  Dean  of  Christ  Church  were  gathered  many 
men  of  similar  faith  and  opinions — Dr.  Lawrence  Humphrey 
of  Magdalen  College,  Thomas  Bentham  of  Magdalen,  Chris- 
topher Goodman  of  Brasenose,  Jewel  and  Cole  of  Corpus, 
together  with  many  others  of  less  importance  and  notoriety. 

At  the  sister  University  of  Cambridge  the  Reformation 
movement  had  gone  even  f urther,  and  amongst  the  prominent 
Protestants  resident  there  we  may  notice  Gilby,  Lever, 
Pilkington,  and  Percival  Wiburne,  who  afterwards  made  a 
reputation  for  themselves  as  sturdy  Puritans. 

It  may  well  be  imagined  that  the  accession  of  Mary  was 
viewed  with  the  greatest  consternation  by  the  little  knot  of 
Reformers.  The  daughter  of  Catherine  of  Aragon  was  known 
to  be  an  ardent  Catholic,  and  her  antipathy  to  the  new 
doctrines  had  been  increased  by  an  unworthy  persecution  she 
had  suffered  during  the  reign  of  her  brother.  The  hopes  of  a 
Protestant  government  under  Queen  Jane  were  finally  dissipated 
by  July,  1553,  and  the  Reformers,  who  could  expect  no  favour 
from  the  triumphant  queen,  could  only  hope  that  they  might 
be  allowed  to  rest  unmolested.  At  first,  indeed,  it  seemed  as 
if  they  would  not  be  deceived.  Mary,  holding  her  rival  and 
principal  supporters  safely  locked  up  in  the  Tower,  thought 
it  none  the  less  advisable  to  make  some  attempt  to  conciliate 
and  appease  the  agitated  minds  of  her  subjects.  On  the  18th 
of  August  she  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  that  she  would 


8  Mary's  Severity. 

molest  no  one  for  religion  "  nntil  such  time  as  a  farther  order, 
by  common  consent,  might  be  taken  therein." 

More  than  this  the  Reformers  could  not  possibly  expect ; 
but  the  appearance  was  delusive,  and  the  Queen  did  not  keep 
her  promise.  Only  two  days  after  the  above-mentioned  pro- 
clamation Gardiner  was  directed  to  enforce  the  observance  of 
the  statutes  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  while  Sir  John 
Mansone  received  a  similar  commission  for  Oxford.  The 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  spurred  by  the  memory  of  his  wrongs, 
was  likely  to  execute  this  mandate  in  no  sparing  manner,  while 
his  colleague  would  undoubtedly  follow  his  example  in  the  sister 
University.  But  Gardiner  did  not  leave  Oxford  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  Mansone,  and  before  long  he  presented  himself  at 
Magdalen  College  for  the  purpose  of  ejecting  thence  its  heretical 
head  and  fellows.  Even  worse  was  to  follow.  In  September 
the  hand  of  the  queen  was  laid  upon  the  bishops,  who  were 
deprived,  and  many  of  them  cast  into  prison.  The  same  fate 
awaited  the  sturdy  Dean  of  Christ  Church.  Already  those  who 
could  fled  the  country,  and  by  November  William  Whittingham, 
one  of  the  Oxford  Protestants,  had  safely  crossed  to  France. 
From  this  time  onwards  the  stream  of  exiles  continued  to  flow, 
and  as  no  particular  precautions  were  taken  to  stop  them,  their 
number  must  have  been  considerable,  reaching,  according  to 
Burnet's  estimate,  from  eight  hundred  to  a  thousand  souls. 
This  can  hardly  be  an  exaggeration,  for  the  number  of 
churches  founded  by  them  on  the  Continent  was  far  from 
inconsiderable.  With  the  Englishmen  thus  banished  from 
their  country  were  to  be  seen  those  foreigners  who  had  rendered 
such  notable  assistance  towards  the  foundation  of  the  reformed 
Church  in  England,  and  they  must  have  considered  that  a 
happy  chance  which  decided  the  government  to  expel  them 
from  the  kingdom  rather  than  detain  them  in  it  for  the  purpose 
of  persecuting  them. 

In  the  choice  of  a  place  of  refuge,  the  exiles  must  have 
experienced  much  embarrassment.     Most  of  them  crossed  to 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  g 

France,  as  being  the  country  nearest  to  our  shores.  But  France 
could  offer  them  no  home.  Her  king,  Henry  II.,  was  a 
Catholic  of  the  Catholics,  noted  above  all  for  his  zeal  for 
religion,  and  his  detestation  of  the  Protestants.  Fortunately 
the  Empire  was  likely  to  prove  more  hospitable.  By  his 
victory  over  the  Schmalkalde  League  in  1547  it  had  indeed 
seemed  as  if  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  had  finally  subdued  Pro- 
testantism. But  the  sudden  volte  face  of  Maurice  of  Saxony 
not  only  completely  destroyed  the  fruits  of  this  success,  but  won 
for  the  Protestants  a  position  in  the  Empire  which  they  had 
not  enjoyed  up  to  that  time.  At  the  moment  when  the  English 
exiles  were  seeking  a  home,  the  temporary  Peace  of  Passau  had 
already  been  concluded,  while  negotiations  for  a  more  per- 
manent settlement  had  already  begun.  The  most  important 
result  of  this  state  of  affairs  was  that  the  Protestant  states  of 
Germany  were  left  free  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion.  Of 
these  states,  the  English  exiles  preferred  those  lying  along  *  the 
Rhine,  such  cities  as  Wesel,  Frankfort,  Strasburg,  and  Basle, 
which  had  already  offered  their  hospitality  to  those  French  Pro- 
testants who  had  fled  from  the  persecutions  of  their  sovereigns. 

Besides  these  homes  of  refuge,  there  were  many  places  in 
Switzerland  which  enjoyed  a  notable  reputation  in  the  history 
of  Protestantism.  Of  these  the  most  important  was  undoubtedly 
Geneva,  a  city  completely  transformed  by  the  government  of 
Calvin,  and  which  might  well  be  considered  the  metropolis  of 
the  reformed  religion.  Hardly  less  than  Geneva,  Zurich  had 
played  a  prominent  part  in  the  development  of  Protestantism, 
and  under  Zwingle  its  inhabitants  had  endeavoured  to  set  up 
a  system  of  their  own.  Though  this  effort  had  ended  in 
failure,  yet  the  city  remained  steadily  faithful  to  the  new 
doctrines.  In  1554  it  offered  peculiar  attractions  to  the  exiled 
Englishmen,  on  account  of  the  presence  of  Bullinger,  who  had 
chosen  Zurich  as  his  home. 

Such  were  the  principal  cities  in  which  the  exiles  established 
their  settlements  in  the  winter  of  1553-1554.    Their  position 


io  Settlement  of  the  Exiles. 

cannot  have  been  a  very  enviable  one.  Most  of  them  were 
ecclesiastics,  whose  chief  source  of  revenue  was  the  benefice 
which  they  held.  When  this  had  been  taken  from  them  they 
were  left  almost  destitute.  Even  those  who  possessed  private 
means,  were  hardly  more  fortunate,  especially  those  whose 
property  was  in  land.  The  home  government,  which  had  not 
made  any  very  great  efforts  to  prevent  the  emigration,  showed 
itself  exceedingly  hostile  to  the  exiles,  whom  it  suspected  of 
treason  against  itself,  and  it  did  its  utmost  to  prevent  any 
supplies  being  sent  to  them  by  their  friends  and  sympathizers 
in  England.  Gardiner,  who  had  suffered  persecution  at  their 
hands,  showed  himself  inexorable  towards  them,  and  swore  that 
they  should  eat  the  tips  off  their  fingers  for  very  hunger. 

Happily  for  the  exiles  none  of  them  were  reduced  to  such 
straits.  In  the  majority  of  the  cities  to  which  they  went  they 
were  well  received  by  the  authorities,  although  it  is  true  that  a 
congregation  established  at  Wesel  under  the  care  of  Miles 
Ooverdale,  was  expelled  by  the  Lutheran  magistrates  because 
of  their  Calvinist  sympathies.  In  spite  of  the  vigilance  of  the 
Queen's  government  supplies  were  regularly  sent  from  England 
to  the  wanderers,  and  the  London  merchants  contrived  to 
convey  money  to  them  by  making  arrangements  through  their 
letters  of  exchange.  Rich  Englishmen  among  the  exiles  them- 
selves readily  shared  their  excess  of  wealth  with  their  less 
fortunate  countrymen,  and  one  Richard  Chambers,  about  whom 
we  shall  have  more  to  say  later  on,  particularly  distinguished 
himself  by  his  liberality,  and  to  Jewel  he  is  said  to  have  made 
a  regular  allowance.  Many  of  the  exiles  eked  out  their  means 
by  literary  work,  and  several  pamphlets  were  produced  by  them. 
Others  again  increased  their  incomes  by  teaching,  and  at  Zurich 
Peter  Martyr  established  a  school,  with  Jewel  for  his  assistant. 

Evidently,  therefore,  the  English  exiles  in  the  cities  of  the 
Rhine  and  Switzerland  had  much  for  which  they  should  have 
been  thankful,  and  they  might  well  have  lived  in  contentment 
and  happiness  in  the  state  in  which  they  found  themselves 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  II 

placed.  Unfortunately  they  but  imperfectly  realized  how  good 
and  pleasant  a  thing  it  is  for  brethren  to  live  together  in  unity. 
Before  long  began  those  disgraceful  and  unnecessary  quarrels 
among  them  which,  but  for  their  important  bearing  on 
subsequent  events,  we  might  wish  to  be  forgotten  and  erased 
from  the  pages  of  history. 

Towards  the  end  of  June,  1554,  William  Whittingham, 
having  passed  through  France,  arrived  at  the  ancient  and 
renowned  city  of  Frankfort  on  Main  with  a  few  friends.  His 
coming  seems  to  have  been  immediately  communicated  to  the 
colony  of  French  refugees  established  in  the  place,  for  the  same 
night  the  Pastor  of  the  Huguenot  Church,  one  Valeran  Pullan, 
called  upon  the  Englishmen  in  their  lodgings,  and  told  them 
that  he  had  already  made  preparations  for  their  reception,  and 
that  all  Englishmen  who  fled  from  England  for  the  sake  of 
religion  might  enter  the  French  Church.  To  these  overtures 
Whittingham  responded  somewhat  ungraciously  that,  as  hardly 
any  of  their  number  understood  French,  this  would  be  of  but 
little  service  to  them.  After  some  discussion,  however,  a 
memorial  was  drawn  up  and  sent  to  the  magistrates,  asking 
them  to  grant  an  asylum  to  all  the  English  who  might  come 
to  Frankfort,  it  being  understood  that  they  should  have  the 
permission  to  found  a  Church  of  their  own. 

As  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  free  cities  of  Germany 
Frankfort  appears  to  have  enjoyed  a  liberal  and  enlightened 
government  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  magistrates,  of 
whom  the  chief  was  one  John  G-lauberg,  made  no  difficulty 
in  granting  the  request  of  the  English  exiles,  and  gave  the 
required  permission  after  an  interval  of  no  more  than  three 
days.  They  were  to  share  the  same  Church  as  the  French 
exiles,  and  to  have  the  use  of  it  on  alternate  days,  while  on 
Sundays  special  hours  were  set  apart  for  the  rites  of  each 
community.  One  condition  only  was  exacted,  and  that  rather 
from  a  desire  to  prevent  confusion  than  to  impose  any  religious 
test — it  was  that  the  English  should  conform  to  the  French 


12  The  Church  at  Frankfort. 

doctrines  and  ceremonies,  except  in  such  cases  where  the 
French  themselves  might  think  fit  to  allow  them  some  liberty 
of  choice.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  proviso  did  not  exercise 
the  least  restriction  upon  the  intentions  of  the  English. 
Indeed  the  vague  terms  of  the  decision,  the  difference  of 
language,  and  the  indifference  of  the  French  made  this 
inevitable.  Throughout  the  history  of  the  English  Church 
at  Frankfort  we  hardly  find  any  further  mention  of  the 
Huguenots,  and  when  Valeran  Pullan  again  appears  upon  the 
scene,  it  is  as  a  peacemaker  between  the  contending  English 
factions  that  he  acts,  and  not  in  any  way  as  a  dictator  of  forms 
and  ceremonies. 

For  the  moment,  however,  the  condition  imposed  by  the 
magistrates  and  the  inclinations  of  Whittingham  combined  to 
form  the  character  of  the  new  Church  about  to  be  established. 
Practically  all  the  French  Protestants  were  Calvinists,  and  of  a 
very  orthodox  type,  and  it  was  to  this  pure  Continental 
communion  rather  than  to  the  English  modification  that 
Whittingham  leaned.  At  the  same  time,  in  formulating  a 
discipline  for  the  New  Church,  it  was  decided  to  take  the 
Prayer-book  of  1552  as  a  basis,  though  all  agreed  that  some 
modifications  were  necessary.  When,  however,  the  commission 
appointed  for  the  purpose  set  to  work  to  draw  up  the  new 
order,  and  to  make  the  proposed  alterations  in  the  English 
Book,  it  speedily  became  apparent  that  the  "modification" 
would  be  so  considerable  that  but  little  of  the  original  dis- 
positions would  remain  unaltered.  The  Anglican  service  was 
completely  changed,  and  an  order  of  worship  substituted  very 
closely  resembling  that  adopted  in  French  Calvinistic  Churches 
to-day,  and  therefore  in  all  probability  imitated  from  the 
usages  of  the  existing  Huguenot  congregation  at  Frankfort. 
But,  in  addition,  other  alterations  and  excisions  were  made. 
The  Litany  and  Responses  were  entirely  cut  out,  vestments 
altogether  abolished,  and  the  Confession  was  altered  "to 
suit  the  place  and  time."     In  plain  English'  the  Edwardian 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  13 

Prayer-book  and  its  dispositions  had  been  put  aside  at  Frank- 
fort to  make  way  for  a  system  altogether  Calvinistic  both  in 
form  and  spirit. 

"We  do  not  know  whether  the  new  order  received  the 
complete  assent  of  all  the  English  Protestants  assembled  in 
Frankfort  at  that  moment ;  but  in  the  absence  of  any  evidence 
to  the  contrary  we  may  assume  that  this  was  the  case.  Even 
if  there  were  some  who  disagreed  with  the  changes  that  had 
been  made,  they  did  not,  apparently,  think  it  worth  while  to 
object  openly,  and  on  the  29th  of  July,  or  little  more  than  a 
month  after  the  arrival  of  "Whittingham,  the  exiles  chose  a 
Minister  and  Deacons  to  govern  them,  and  entered  their  new 
Church  with  great  rejoicings. 

So  far  all  had  gone  well.  The  generosity  of  the  magistrates 
of  the  town,  and  the  friendliness  and  complaisance  of  the 
French  community,  had  made  the  way  singularly  easy  for  the 
exiles,  and  removed  all  difficulties  from  their  path.  If  they 
had  only  been  content  to  remain  as  they  were,  and  let  well 
alone,  they  might  have  continued  to  live  peacefully  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  lot  far  happier  than  is  the  share  of  most 
exiles. 

Unfortunately  for  their  own  peace,  they  did  not  rest 
contented.  They  conceived  the  project  of  inviting  all  the 
English  abroad  to  come  and  live  together  with  them,  and  so 
form  a  united  community.  The  idea  would  have  been  an 
excellent  one  if  only  all  the  exiles  had  been  of  the  same  way  of 
thinking.  The  possibility  that  many  of  their  countrymen 
might  object  to  their  very  free  treatment  of  the  Edwardian 
order  never  seems  to  have  entered  the  heads  of  the  rulers  of  the 
Frankfort  Church.  The  difficulty  of  amalgamation  was  still 
further  increased  by  a  provision  in  the  new  order,  which  laid 
down  that  every  member  of  the  Church  should  sign  its  dis- 
cipline. To  an  observer  of  to-day  this  blindness  of  Whittingham 
and  his  followers  to  the  real  difficulties  of  the  situation  is  so 
singular  as  to  be  incredible.     It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the 


14  A   Circular  Letter  sent. 

1  etter  sent  from  Frankfort  to  the  other  cities  was  intended  as 
a  cartel  of  defiance.  There  is  not,  however,  the  smallest  reason 
for  supposing  that  it  was  either  sent  or  received  in  this  spirit. 
The  actual  truth  which  explains  this  peculiar  situation  is  this, 
that  the  English  Reformers  had  not  yet  fully  realized  the  very 
considerable  differences  that  separated  them  from  one  another. 
So  far  as  we  can  judge  at  such  a  distance  of  time  they  seem  to 
have  but  little  suspected  upon  what  a  fierce  and  lengthy  contest 
they  were  about  to  enter. 

That  the  alterations  made  at  Frankfort  in  the  English 
Liturgy  were  not  agreeable  to  a  large  section  of  their  country- 
men was  speedily  brought  home  to  Whittingham  and  his 
fellows.  The  circular  letter  they  proposed  to  address  to  the 
various  English  settlements  on  the  Continent  was  duly  drawn 
up  and  sent.  In  it  the  English  of  the  exile  were  informed  of 
the  large  privileges  so  generously  offered  to  them  by  the 
magistrates  of  Frankfort,  and  afterwards  invited  to  speedily 
come  and  enjoy  them,  and  so  form  one  united  Church  in  the 
land  of  their  affliction. 

Among  the  English  settlements  already  formed  at  this 
period,  the  most  important  were  at  Strasburg  and  Zurich. 
Here  were  congregated  men  of  a  moderate  cast  of  thought, 
who  while  sincere  Protestants  still  clung  tenaciously  to  many 
of  the  ancient  prayers  and  usages  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
who  accepted  without  reserve  the  compromise  effected  by  the 
Prayer-book  of  1552.  To  such  men  the  measures  taken  by 
the  Frankfort  congregation  appeared  wild  and  revolutionary, 
subversive  of  all  that  decency  and  order  enjoined  by  the 
Apostle.  In  this  frame  of  mind,  they  were  not  likely  to 
receive  with  much  cordiality  the  invitation  sent  to  them,  for 
it  was  at  the  same  time  to  ask  them  to  approve  of  acts  which 
excited  in  them  nothing  but  feelings  of  repulsion.  The  men 
of  Zurich,  however,  who  were  all  very  moderate  by  character, 
did  not  openly  express  their  disapproval ;  they  did  not  even 
refuse  flatly  to  accept  the  offer  that  had  been  made  to  them. 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  15 

For  the  moment  they  contented  themselves  by  thanking  the 
Frankfort  Church  for  remembering  them,  and  added  that  they 
did  not  wish  to  be  disturbed  in  their  studies  ;  if,  however,  their 
presence  was  absolutely  needful,  they  might  come.  The  answer 
sent  from  Strasburg  was  even  less  satisfactory  and  reassuring. 
The  invitation  was  ignored  altogether,  and  without  exactly 
saying  so  much  the  congregation  seemed  to  hint  that  the 
Frankfort  Church  was  under  bad  management,  and  that  it 
needed  some  person,  whose  orthodoxy  was  above  suspicion,  to 
govern  it,  and  check  the  excesses  of  such  reckless  enthusiasts 
as  AYhittingham.  By  way  of  helping  their  brethren  in  their 
choice  they  suggested  the  names  of  four  divines,  Cox,  Ponet, 
Bale,  and  Scory,  whom  they  considered  to  be  fit  people  to 
discharge  such  an  office. 

The  congregation  at  Frankfort  cannot  have  been  very 
delighted  at  the  way  in  which  their  fellow-countrymen  had 
received  their  advances.  The  message  from  Zurich,  though 
couched  in  polite  terms,  was  actually  nothing  less  than  a 
distinct  refusal.  From  Strasburg  they  barely  received  ordinary 
courtesy.  The  very  gratuitous  offer  to  supply  them  with  a 
head  for  their  Church  must  have  been  peculiarly  irritating,  the 
more  so  because  of  their  own  motion  they  had  already  elected 
their  chiefs.  The  three  men  upon  whom  they  had  decided  to 
confer  this  honour  were  Knox,  Lever,  and  Haddon.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  why  they  should  have  chosen  three  men  of  such 
widely  different  character  and  opinions  to  act  in  concert. 
Knox  was  the  most  determined  of  Calvinists,  Lever  was  a 
quiet  and  moderate  man,  while  Haddon  had  done  his  utmost 
to  temporize  with  the  Catholics.  The  only  possible  explanation 
of  the  difficulty  seems  to  be  that  already  given  above  with 
regard  to  the  motives  that  prompted  the  men  of  Frankfort  to 
send  out  their  circular  letter.  Here  again  we  have  further 
evidence  of  the  unconsciousness  of  the  Protestants  of  the 
differences  that  divided  them. 

The  association  of  these  three  divines  at  the  head  of  the 


1 6  Opposition  from  Strasburg  and  Zurich. 

Frankfort  Church  was  never  carried  out.  Lever  and  Haddon 
seem  to  have  realized  that  they  were  unfitted  to  cope  with 
Knox,  who  would  be  certain  to  make  himself  in  fact  the  sole 
head  of  a  congregation  which  had  already  shown  its  partiality 
for  the  ideas  that  he  represented.  Haddon  altogether  refused 
to  come  to  the  city,  and  though  Lever  arrived  shortly  after  he 
exercised  very  little  influence.  In  fact,  Knox  was  left  alone  to 
be  sole  leader  of  the  Church. 

The  men  of  Strasburg,  who  watched  with  growing  uneasiness 
and  hostility  the  progress  of  events  at  Frankfort,  concerted 
with  their  countrymen  at  Zurich  the  means  whereby  they 
might  restore  the  English  Order  in  the  recreant  Church. 
From  the  latter  city  the  wealthy  and  liberal  Eichard  Chambers 
was  chosen  as  envoy,  while  from  Strasburg  came  the  learned 
Grindal. 

The  two  delegates  did  not  attempt  to  conceal  the  real 
objects  of  their  mission.  On  behalf  of  the  Church  at  Zurich, 
Chambers  declared  that  no  Englishman  would  come  from  that 
city  to  Frankfort  unless  the  English  Order  was  established 
there  ;  Grindal  announced  that  his  fellow-countrymen  at 
Strasburg  were  quite  ready  to  make  the  journey,  and  that  they 
intended  to  help  their  brethren  to  set  their  Church  in  order, 
and  establish  the  regime  of  the  Prayer-book.  Both  seem  to 
have  directed  their  attacks  chiefly  against  Knox,  who  had 
recently  arrived  to  take  the  charge  which  had  been  offered  to 
him.  In  him  they  saw  the  leader  and  representative  of  the 
pure  Calvinist  party,  the  adversary  from  whom  they  had  most 
to  fear.  And  they  were  right.  Knox  vigorously  took  up  the 
cudgels  in  favour  of  the  order  arranged  for  the  Frankfort 
Church,  and  boldly  confronted  Grindal  and  Chambers.  The 
discussion  was  now  actively  taken  up  by  the  two  parties,  and 
the  questions  in  dispute  were  brought  clearly  forward.  In 
a  discussion  held  towards  the  end  of  November,  Grindal 
declared  that  his  party  would  be  perfectly  willing  to  abandon 
vestments    and    other    ceremonials    as    being   things    of    no 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  17 

importance  in  themselves,  but  he  declared  that  the  feeling  of 
those  he  represented  required  that  the  substance  of  the  Book 
should  be  retained.  So  vague  a  statement  did  not  satisfy 
Knox  and  his  party,  and  they  required  a  more  exact  definition 
of  what  was  meant  by  the  substance  of  the  Book.  To  this 
demand  Grindal  and  Chambers  would  not  give  a  direct  answer, 
and  they  preferred  to  answer  one  question  by  another.  What 
parts  of  the  Book  did  Knox  and  his  associates  propose  to 
admit  ?  Would  they  be  allowed  a  separate  church  ?  What 
assurances  had  been  given  that  they  should  live  unmolested 
in  Frankfort  ?  These  questions  were  answered  categorically 
by  the  other  side.  They  replied  that  the  magistrates  had 
offered  every  assurance  to  the  exiles  that  could  possibly  be 
expected,  and  that  Frankfort  had  thrown  open  its  gates  to  all 
Englishmen  who  might  choose  to  come  there.  A  separate 
church  could  not  be  granted  them  until  some  definite  settle- 
ment of  the  religious  questions  of  the  Empire  had  been  made 
by  the  congress  then  sitting  at  Augsburg.  As  for  the  Prayer- 
book,  such  parts  should  be  retained  as  were  in  keeping  with 
the  Scriptures,  and  that,  in  accordance  with  the  condition 
proposed,  were  in  harmony  with  the  order  observed  by  the 
French  congregation. 

It  is  in  the  last  declaration  that  we  have  the  first  glimpses 
of  the  really  fundamental  questions  that  divided  the  exiles  into 
two  hostile  camps.  We  have  already  seen  that  both  sides 
were  ready  to  give  up  vestments  and  ceremonials  as  being 
things  unimportant  in  themselves.  But  while  the  one  party 
still  clung  to  a  great  part  of  the  old  traditions  of  the  Church, 
the  other  contended  that  all  traditions  were  vain,  and  threw 
them  over  together  with  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  relying 
upon  the  Scriptures  as  the  sole  guide  of  life  and  the  only 
manual  of  religion. 

By  reason  of  these  fundamental  differences,  it  is  clear  that 
the  attitude  taken  up  by  Knox's  party  could  not  commend 
itself  to  the  Church  at  Strasburg.     Grindal   and   Chambers 


1 8  Mission  of  Grindal  and  Chambers. 

returned  thither  with  their  answer  at  the  beginning  of 
December.  The  English  to  whom  they  reported  the  state 
of  affairs  expressed  great  discontent,  and  sent  once  more  to 
the  wayward  Church  in  order  to  say  that  if  the  English  Book 
was  accepted  they  would  think  of  coming  to  Frankfort,  other- 
wise they  could  not  entertain  a  thought  of  it.  Here  the 
correspondence  dropped  for  the  moment,  and  the  men  of 
Strasburg  abstained  awhile  from  the  attack  in  order  to  choose 
a  more  favourable  moment. 

At  Frankfort,  the  mission  of  Grindal  and  Chambers  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  without  effect.  Their  arguments  had 
either  gained  them  some  adherents,  or  roused  to  action  a 
hitherto  silent  minority.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  arrival 
from  over  the  seas  of  fresh  comers  of  more  Anglican  tendencies 
had  modified  the  congregation  in  the  interval.  Whatever  may 
have  happened  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  after  the  departure 
of  the  envoys  of  Zurich  and  Strasburg,  no  inconsiderable 
portion  of  the  Frankfort  Church  leaned  towards  the  adoption 
of  the  English  Prayer-book.  This  section  found  a  leader  in 
Lever,  one  of  the  three  originally  selected  to  govern  the 
Church,  who  arrived  about  this  time. 

The  Calvinistic  majority  in  the  Church  had  just  carried  a 
resolution  establishing  the  Book  of  Geneva.  The  new-comer 
acted  with  great  prudence  and  moderation.  He  did  not 
approve  of  the  Order  just  established,  but  he  would  not  begin 
by  openly  attacking  it.  He  accordingly  asked  for  an  interval 
for  deliberation,  and  tins  he  obtained.  Apparently  his 
moderation  gained  him  many  followers  in  the  Church,  for 
evidently  Knox  and  Whittingham  feared  his  influence.  In 
the  "  Troubles  of  Frankfort "  Whittingham  declares  that  Lever 
intended  to  set  up  an  order  of  his  own,  but  from  his  action  he 
betrayed  his  anxiety  lest  the  new-comer  should  declare  himself 
entirely  for  the  Prayer-book.  It  is  therefore  almost  certain 
that,  feeling  their  authority  and  influence  to  be  tottering, 
Knox  and  Whittingham  resolved  to  obtain  from   Calvin  a 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort,  19 

decisive  opinion  upon  the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  English 
Order.  Accordingly  they  drew  up  a  resume  of  the  Book,  sent 
it  to  the  veteran  Reformer  at  Geneva,  and  asked  for  his 
judgment  upon  it. 

The  answer,  as  they  must  have  anticipated,  proved  almost 
unreservedly  favourable  to  their  party.  After  a  few  preliminary 
remarks,  scolding  both  sides  for  their  unseemly  quarrel,  Calvin 
went  on  to  say  that  the  English  liturgy  lacked  the  purity  that 
was  desirable.  This  defect  might  be  tolerated  for  a  season, 
but  the  time  had  now  come  to  set  forth  something  purer.  The 
liturgy  contained  many  things'that  were  rather  foolish  (tolerabiles 
ineptias),  and  these  it  would  be  as  well  to  abolish.  At  the 
same  time,  he  exhorted  the  more  advanced  party  not  to  be 
too  fierce  against  those  who  would  not  rise  higher  ;  while  the 
others  were  warned  not  to  pride  themselves  too  much  in  their 
foolishness. 

This  remarkable  letter  marks  an  important  epoch  in  the 
history  of  sects  in  England.  The  Anglican  Calvinists  are  here 
first  treated  as  being  in  opposition  to  their  Continental  model, 
and  the  separation  is  enunciated  by  Calvin  himself.  The 
recurrence  of  the  words  "  pure "  and  "  purity "  in  the  letter 
indicate  the  grounds  of  the  difference,  and  we  here  have  the 
first  whisper  of  that  sound  which  was  at  no  distant  epoch  to 
take  definite  shape  in  the  word  "  Puritan." 

The  judgment  of  Calvin  exercised  upon  the  minds  of  the 
Frankfort  congregation  all  the  effects  which  had  been  desired 
by  those  who  had  provoked  it.  "  It  so  wrought  in  the  hearts 
of  many,"  writes  Whittingham,  "  that  they  were  not  before  so 
stout  to  maintain  all  the  points  of  the  Book  of  England,  as 
afterward  they  were  bent  against  it."  The  victory  of  the 
Puritan  party  was  complete,  and  though  the  contest  was  hot, 
they  carried  the  day  all  along  the  line.  Knox  himself, 
Whittingham,  Gilby,  Cole,  and  Fox,  all  pronounced  Calvinists, 
were  elected  to  draw  up  a  new  order  for  the  Church. 

From  a  body  so  constituted  but  one  decision  could  possibly 


20  A  New  Order  appointed. 

be  anticipated,  and  it  can  only  be  regarded  as  the  natural 
sequence  to  their  election  that  they  almost  immediately  decided 
to  conform  in  all  questions  to  the  Book  of  Geneva. 

Victory  had  rested  with  the  Calvinists,  but  their  success 
was  not  so  complete  as  it  seemed,  and  it  had  been  greatly  com- 
promised by  the  extreme  measures  they  had  thought  fit  to 
adopt.  The  Anglican  party,  although  a  minority,  still  remained 
strong  and  influential,  for  they  had  behind  them  the  moral 
support  of  the  Churches  of  Strasburg  and  Zurich.  It  was 
plain  that  this  party  would  never  consent  to  accept  the  pure 
and  undiluted  Calvinism  of  Geneva.  The  quarrel,  so  far  from 
being  settled,  grew  fiercer  than  ever.  The  sad  spectacle  of 
Christian  brethren  engaging  in  so  unseemly  a  struggle  filled 
all  good  men  with  shame  and  pain.  At  last  Gilby,  himself 
one  of  the  five  who  had  voted  for  the  Genevan  Order,  besought 
his  countrymen,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  to  reform  their  judgment 
and  seek  some  compromise  which  would  satisfy  both  parties. 
This  counsel  being  forthwith  adopted,  the  struggle  suddenly 
ceased,  and  four  men  being  appointed,  Knox  and  Whittingham 
for  the  Calvinists,  and  Lever  and  Parry  for  the  Anglicans,  a 
new  and  satisfactory  order  was  speedily  prepared  for  adoption 
by  the  Church. 

As  in  the  former  instance,  the  English  Prayer-book  formed 
the  basis  of  this  new  discipline,  but  several  alterations, 
excisions,  and  additions  were  made.  What  its  exact  nature 
may  have  been  cannot  be  known,  but  it  probably  differed  but 
little  from  the  arrangement  described  above.  "  The  Troubles 
of  Frankfort "  give  us  no  direct  information  upon  this  point, 
and  all  we  know  for  certain  is  that  vestments,  the  litany,  and 
audible  responses  were  by  common  consent  abandoned. 

The  new  order  was  drawn  up  in  writing  by  the  6th  of 
February,  when  all  the  members  of  the  Church  signed  it.  So 
happy  a  reconciliation  after  so  hot  a  debate  could  not  fail  to 
gladden  the  hearts  of  all  the  members  of  the  Frankfort  con- 
gregation,  whatever  their  opinions  might  be.     All  felt  that  this 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  21 

was  a  special  occasion  for  rejoicing.  A  public  service  was  held 
in  the  Church,  and  thanks  were  given  to  God  for  appeasing 
these  unhappy  disputes,  and  at  its  close  the  members  lovingly 
joined  to  celebrate  the  Communion. 

Alas  that  this  concord  was  destined  to  be  of  so  short 
duration !  The  rejoicing  was  unfortunately  premature,  and 
those  who  then  joined  to  celebrate  the  most  solemn  rite  of 
the  Christian  Church  were  destined  at  no  distant  date  to 
ensrage  in  a  conflict  even  more  embittered  than  the  first. 

At  best  the  compromise  made  was  only  a  temporary 
arrangement  to  last  until  the  end  of  the  following  April,  or 
rather  less  than  three  months;  and  if  any  disputes  arose  in 
the  mean  time  they  were  to  be  referred  to  the  arbitration  of 
Calvin,  Museums,  Martyr,  Bullinger,  and  Vyret — a  fairly 
representative  quintette  of  foreign  divines.  The  necessity 
for  such  a  regulation  shows  at  once  the  inquietude  of  its 
authors  and  the  slender  foundation  upon  which  the  peace  of 
the  Church  rested.  This  time  it  was  destined  to  be  disturbed 
from  without. 

The  Anglican  party  at  Strasburg  had  not  accepted  their 
defeat  and^the  dismissal  of  their  envoys  as  final,  but  still  looked 
forward  to  the  time  when  the  wayward  congregation  of  Frank- 
fort would  accept  unreservedly  the  Prayer-book  of  1552,  to 
which  they  themselves  clung  so  tenaciously.  They  had  probably 
hoped  that  something  would  be  done  by  Lever,  and  must  have 
felt  bitterly  disappointed  when  they  heard  that  he  had  con- 
sented to  treat  with"  the  dissidents,  and  had  even  come  to  an 
arrangement.  At  this  moment  of  dismay  and  reverse  there 
appeared  in  their  midst  the  very  man  of  whom  they  had  need. 

Dr.  Richard  Cox,  after  having  suffered  much  persecution  in 
England,  had  at  last  escaped  from  the  Marshalsea  in  which  he 
had  been  confined.  He  lost  no  time  in  flying  from  a  country 
where  he  must  risk  so  many  dangers,  and  where  his  life  was 
not  safe.  He  arrived  in  Germany  early  in  the  year  1555,  and 
very  opportunely  for  the  Anglican  party. 


22  Arrival  of  Cox  at  Frankfort. 

As  one  of  the  commission  which  had  drawn  up  the  Prayer- 
book,  he  naturally  was  a  firm  defender  of  the  work  which  he 
had  done  so  much  to  compile.  He  must  have  known  perfectly 
well  all  the  arguments  for  and  against  the  Liturgy,  and  his 
opinions  had  long  before  been  formed  and  fixed.  The  doings 
of  the  congregation  at  Frankfort,  who  seemed  to  have  seized 
the  earliest  opportunity  of  disowning  what  had  been  prepared 
with  so  much  pains,  must  have  been  in  the  mouth  of  every 
exile  when  Cox  arrived  at  the  banks  of  the  Ehine.  The 
zealous  Dean  speedily  resolved  to  go  to  Frankfort  and  rescue 
the  English  Church  from  the  dangers  of  a  schism.  At  Strasburg 
he  found  plenty  of  his  countrymen  who  were  ready  to  help 
him  to  carry  out  this  task.  It  was  a  man  of  his  stamp  for 
whom  they  had  been  waiting,  and  they  had  already  proposed 
his  name  to  the  Church  at  Frankfort  as  being  a  person  fit  to 
govern  them.  Under  such  leadership  they  might  take  up  the 
dispute  with  a  light  heart,  and  rely  upon  Cox's  skill  and  energy 
for  the  final  victory. 

Accordingly,  when  Cox  arrived  in  Frankfort  on  the  13th  of 
March,  1555,  he  was  accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  from  Strasburg,  and  even  from  Zurich, 
zealous  Anglicans  like  himself,  and  determined  to  help  him  to 
uproot  Calvinism  in  the  Church,  and  to  establish  the  English 
Order  there  in  its  stead. 

However  gladly  the  governors  of  the  Church  at  Frankfort 
may  have  welcomed  the  arrival  of  Cox  and  his  companions, 
they  must  have  felt  some  anxiety  as  to  the  object  of  their  visit, 
and  the  presence  of  the  Strasburg  contingent  must  have  added 
to  their  disquiet.  They  were  not  left  long  in  doubt,  for  Cox 
was  not  the  man  to  waste  any  time  over  an  enterprise  he  had 
taken  in  hand,  and  he  began  the  attack  without  delay. 

His  method  was  rough,  but  effective,  for  it  at  once  pre- 
cipitated hostilities,  while  it  made  any  attempt  at  a  compromise 
all  but  impossible.  At  the  very  first  service  he  attended  in 
the  city  he  created  a  disturbance  by  answering  aloud  after  the 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  23 

minister,  and  when  admonished  by  one  of  the  seniors  for  his 
conduct,  he  retorted  that  he  would  do  as  he  had  done  in 
England,  and  he  intended  that  the  Frankfort  congregation 
should  have  the  face  of  an  English  Church. 

The  following  Sunday  he  went  even  further.  One  of  his 
party  surprised  the  pulpit,  and  from  that  point  of  vantage 
read  to  the  astonished  congregation  the  abandoned  Litany, 
while  Cox  and  his  following  answered  aloud.  Nothing  but  the 
sacredness  of  the  place  and  the  occasion  can  have  prevented  a 
broil  on  the  spot. 

Dazed  and  astounded  as  they  were  by  the  audacity  and 
suddenness  of  the  attack,  Knox  and  his  fellows  could  not 
submit  without  retaliating,  and  though  on  that  eventful  Sunday 
morning  they  sat  and  listened  in  silence,  they  were  none  the 
less  determined  to  answer  blow  by  blow. 

The  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Knox  occupied  the  pulpit, 
and  in  his  discourse  declaimed  against  those  who  had  come  and 
ruthlessly  disturbed  the  peace  of  his  Church.     At  the  same 
time  he  made  a  fierce  attack  upon  the  English  Prayer-book, 
which  he  stigmatized  as  superstitious,  impure,  and  imperfect. 
The  struggle  was  now  fairly  begun.     Each  party  had  made  its 
attack  upon  the  tenets  of  the  other,  and  a  series  of  recrimina- 
tions was  sure  to  follow.     Under  their  respective  leaders  both 
factions  stood  face  to  face  ready  for  the  contest,  and  called 
themselves  Coxans  and  Knoxans  respectively  after  the  names 
of  their  chiefs.     The  whole  Church  was  engaged  on  one  side 
or  the  other,  and  no  one  was  too  young  or  too  old  to  take  part 
in  the  dispute.     The  situation  is  thus  described  by  the  martyr- 
ologist  Fox,  who  was  present  at  the  time,  and  did  his  utmost 
to  calm  the  fury  of  the  combatants  :  "  All  the  young  men,"  he 
writes,  "  even  such  as  were  but  boys,  joined  in  on  one  side  or 
the  other.     Nay,  those  that  were  old  men  and  divines,  that 
should  have  promoted  peace  and  concord,  added  more  flame 
to  the  fire  than  the  rest."     Such  was  the  lamentable  condition 
of  the  English  at  Frankfort  in  the  month  of  March,  1555* 


24  Coxans  v.  Knoxans. 

The  contest  had  not  proceeded  very  far  when  Cox  and  his 
party  found  they  could  not  do  very  much  unless  they  were 
admitted  as  members  of  the  Church.     Accordingly  the  zealous 
dean  demanded  this  privilege  for  himself  and  his  followers. 
The  question,  however,  was  hotly  contested.     The  Knoxans 
feared  that  if  the  new-comers  were  admitted  among  their  num- 
ber, they  would  turn  the  minority  in  favour  of  the  English  Order 
into  a  majority,  and  they  protested  against  this  step,  which 
would  at  once  give  the  victory  to  their  opponents.     In  support 
of  their  opposition  they  had  the  clear  text  of  the  existing 
order  of  their  Church,  which,  as  has  already  been  stated,  pro- 
vided that  all  who  joined  the  community  at  Frankfort  should  sign 
its  discipline.    As  it  was  perfectly  certain  that  Cox  and  the  other 
Anglicans  would  refuse  to  do  so,  the  Calvinists  believed  their 
position  to  be  secure.     They  did  not  absolutely  refuse  to  admit 
their  fellow-countrymen,  but  they  said  it  would  be  better  to 
postpone  that  step  until  the  dispute  had  been  definitely  settled. 
Before  this  difficulty  it  seemed  probable  that  all  the  efforts 
of  the  Coxans  would  fail,  and  what  they  would  have  done  I 
cannot  pretend  to  guess  had  they  not  received  assistance  from 
a  most  unexpected  quarter.     With  a  moderation  and  breadth 
of  sympathy  very  rarely  attributed  to  him,  Knox  gave  out  his 
opinion  that  the  Coxans  should  be  admitted,  and  his  verdict 
at  once  decided  the  matter.     What  motives  decided  the  fiery 
Scotch  reformer  to  take  this  step  I  cannot  say,  and  it  will  soon 
be  seen  that  he  was  the  first  to  suffer  for  it.     He  may  have 
been  influenced  by  the  thought  that,  after  all,  the  men  of 
Frankfort  had  invited  their  countrymen  to  come  and  join  them, 
and  in  that  case  it  would  be  hard  indeed  if  they  refused  them 
hospitality  when  they  arrived.     But  in  the  absence  of  any 
indication  whatever  to  the  contrary,  we  may  justly  credit  Knox 
with  the  highest  and  most  conscientious  intentions,  and  indeed 
throughout  the  whole  of  this  Frankfort  episode  he  exhibited 
a  moderation  in  strange  contrast  with  his  conduct  in  other 
places  and  at  other  times. 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  25 

No  sooner  had  Cox  become  a  member  of  the  Frankfort 
Church  than  with  rare  arrogance  and  ingratitude  he  turned 
upon  the  man  to  whom,  above  all,  he  owed  this  benefit,  and 
roundly  bade  him  to  meddle  no  more  in  the  affairs  of  the 
congregation  that  he  had  been  duly  elected  to  govern.  But 
the  active  dean  thought  but  little  of  gratitude.  The  task  he 
had  at  heart  was  the  establishment  of  the  regime  of  the  Prayer- 
book  at  Frankfort,  and  Knox  was  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose.  To  get  rid  of 
Knox  was  therefore  his  chief  end  and  aim,  and  from  this  time 
forward  he  sought  by  all  the  means  in  his  power  to  drive  the 
Scotchman  from  the  city. 

The  Knoxans,  however,  though  they  had  received  a  grievous 
check,  were  still  far  from  being  vanquished,  and  they  had  yet 
other  resources  at  their  command.  As  the  first  to  arrive  in 
the  city  and  as  the  founder  of  the  Church,  Whittingham  had 
the  ear  of  the  magistrates,  who  might  well  regard  him  as  one 
of  the  chief  men  among  the  English  colonists.  TVhen,  there- 
fore, he  applied  to  them  to  interfere  in  the  struggle  and  to 
enjoin  the  Coxans  to  respect  the  original  condition  and  imitate 
the  discipline  of  the  French  Church,  they  were  ready  to  comply. 
John  Glauberg,  who  had  already  played  the  principal  part  in 
granting  the  use  of  the  Church  to  the  English,  accordingly 
came  down  for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  matter. 

Of  the  English  Prayer-book  and  of  the  principal  questions 
in  dispute  it  is  not  likely  that  he  knew  anything.  The  obser- 
vance of  the  French  Order  was  equally  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  him.  But  it  was  of  vital  importance  to  maintain  decency 
and  order  in  the  city.  Both  were  endangered  by  the  dispute 
between  the  English  factions,  and  to  put  an  end  to  this  as  soon 
as  possible  was  his  one  aim.  To  this  end,  he  did  not  dictate 
to  either  party  what  course  they  were  to  pursue,  or  what  dis- 
cipline they  ought  to  obey,  he  simply  bade  them  arrange  some 
compromise  subject  only  to  the  approval  of  Yaleran  Pullan,  the 
French  pastor. 


26  Attempt  at  Compromise. 

The  members  of  both  parties  were  perfectly  ready  to  fall 
in  with  this  arrangement,  and  Knox  and  Whittingham  for 
their  side  were  appointed  to  confer  with  Cox  and  Lever,  the 
representatives  of  the  Anglicans.  No  doubt  all  men  hoped 
that  by  this  means  some  compromise  would  be  effected  similar 
to  that  which  had  been  brought  about  by  Knox,  Whittingham, 
Lever,  and  Parry  only  a  few  weeks  before,  and  this  idea  seems 
to  be  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  four  chosen  to  settle  the 
matter  were  the  same,  except  that  on  the  later  occasion  Cox 
replaced  Parry.  Unfortunately,  this  change  made  all  the 
difference,  and  prevented  any  accommodation  from  being 
arrived  at.  Too  much  ill-feeling  had  already  been  excited  to 
make  an  amicable  settlement  easy,  and  the  conference  broke 
up  without  having  effected  anything,  leaving  all  the  questions 
in  dispute  just  where  they  were  before. 

As  three  of  the  men  who  took  part  in  it  have  left  a  more 
or  less  complete  description  of  the  questions  they  debated  at 
this  meeting,  we  may,  by  checking  their  ex  'parte  statements, 
arrive  at  a  fairly  correct  idea  of  what  actually  took  place.  Cox 
at  once  agreed  to  abandon  private  baptisms,  the  confirmation 
of  children,  saints'  days,  kneeling  at  Holy  Communion,  surplices, 
crosses,  and  in  fact  all  such  ceremonies  as  he  judged  to  be 
"  not  papistical,  but  by  their  nature  indifferent."  Further 
than  this  he  absolutely  refused  to  go.  But  the  Calvinists  were 
not  contented  with  this,  and  wished  to  alter  the  Services  as  set 
down  in  the  Prayer-book.  They  objected  to  the  Litany  and 
to  the  Responses,  they  wished  to  expunge  the  Te  Deitm,  and 
they  even  argued  against  the  public  reading  of  passages  from 
Scripture  as  an  irksome  and  unprofitable  form.  But  as  a 
general  principle  they  rejected  everything  that  was  not  found 
in  the  Bible  ;  they  accepted  the  Scriptures  as  their  sole  guide 
in  life,  and  rejected  the  traditions  of  the  Church  as  the  work 
of  Papal  superstition. 

On  these  points  Cox  refused  to  make  any  concession  what- 
ever, and  when  Knox  proposed  changes  in  the  order  of  Matins, 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  27 

he  simply  replied,  "  I  mean  to  have  it  "  (Ego  veto  habere),  and 
from  that  position  he  refused  to  move.  From  this  deadlock 
there  was  evidently  no  escape,  and  the  conference  was  broken 
off  abruptly.  It  seemed  as  if  matters  must  inevitably  drift 
back  to  their  former  state  of  chaos  unless  something  decisive 
was  done,  for  neither  party  by  itself  appears  to  have  been 
strong  enough  to  carry  off  a  decisive  victory.  Fortunately  for 
his  side  Whittingham  still  had  the  ear  of  the  magistrates,  and 
by  his  representations  he  contrived  to  obtain  from  them  an 
order  that  the  English  were  to  conform  to  the  original  stipula- 
tion of  their  settlement,  and  imitate  the  French  Church  both 
in  its  doctrine  and  ceremonies.  If  this  was  not  done  the 
magistrates  threatened  to  expel  the  whole  colony  from  their 
city  [March  22]. 

So  decisive  an  edict  seemed  to  settle  the  matter  definitely. 
The  Order  of  Geneva  had,  by  the  device  of  Whittingham, 
triumphed  over  the  Order  of  England.  The  Calvinists  were 
victorious  ;  the  Anglicans  saw  nothing  but  the  hard  reality  of 
a  decisive  defeat.  Cox  had  been  interrupted  in  the  full  tide 
of  his  success,  and  it  now  seemed  as  if  the  whole  expedition 
had  been  thrown  away,  the  entire  campaign  proved  fruitless. 
The  energetic  dean  candidly  acknowledged  that  he  had  been 
beaten,  and,  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  matter,  he  expressed  his 
approval  of  the  Genevan  Order,  and  agreed  to  submit  to  it. 

If  the  dispute  had  rested  here,  how  different  our  subsequent 
history  might  have  been !  But  there  were  those  among  the 
Coxans  who  did  not  accept  defeat  so  readily  as  their  chiefs. 
Of  these  the  moving  spirit  was  one  Isaacs.  This  man  realized 
that  the  chief  thing  necessary  was  to  get  rid  of  Knox.  Once 
that  had  been  successfully  accomplished  it  would  be  far  easier 
to  deal  with  his  followers.  He  therefore  called  privately  upon 
Knox,  and  endeavoured  to  prevail  upon  him  to  relent  in  his 
animosity  towards  the  English  Order.  If  he  would  do  so,  he 
promised  him  favour,  but  if  not  he  threatened  him  with  a 
mysterious  vengeance.    To  caresses  and  menaces  the  undaunted 


28  Knox  accused  of  Treason. 

Reformer  had  but  one  reply,  "  May  my  name  perish,"  he  ex- 
claimed, "so  that  God's  glory  and  His  Book  may  only  be 
sought  among  us."  But  Isaacs  had  prepared  a  master  stroke 
that  was  not  only  to  rout  Knox  out  of  the  Church,  but  to 
assure  the  immediate  success  of  the  Prayer-book  party.  In  a 
pamphlet  entitled  "  An  Admonition  to  Christian  Men,"  written 
in  Knox's  usual  and  exaggerated  style,  he  had  found  a  series  of 
libels  on  Mary,  Prince  Philip,  and  the  emperor.  Of  the  English 
Queen  he  had  said  that  "  if  she  had  been  sent  to  hell  before 
these  days  her  cruelty  would  not  have  so  manifestly  appeared 
to  the  world."  She  was  "  false,  dissembling,  inconstant,  proud, 
and  a  breaker  of  promises."  "  Jezebel  never  erected  half  so 
many  gallows  in  all  Israel  as  mischievous  Mary  hath  done 
within  London  alone."  As  for  the  emperor,  he  was  "  no  less 
an  enemy  to  Christ  than  was  Nero,"  and  his  son  Philip  was 
involved  in  his  guilt. 

Armed  with  these  very  damaging  proofs  against  Knox, 
Isaacs  went  to  consult  the  chief  men  of  his  party  upon  the 
steps  they  should  take.  Of  these  the  most  important  were 
Cox  himself,  Parry,  Bale,  and  Jewel.  They  welcomed  with 
delight  this  means  of  retaliating  upon  their  victorious  adver- 
saries. The  Dean  of  Christ  Chmch  reflected  that  the  French 
Order  was  perhaps  not  so  admirable,  after  all,  and  he  eagerly 
seized  upon  this  opportunity  of  getting  rid  of  his  rival.  It 
was  decided  to  accuse  Knox  of  high  treason  before  the  magis- 
trates, and  nine  articles  of  accusation  were  drawn  up. 

The  worthy  rulers  of  Frankfort  could  not  afford  to  pass 
this  matter  over.  As  members  of  one  of  the  free  cities  of  the 
Empire,  they  enjoyed  considerable  liberty.  But  their  loyalty 
might  well  be  suspected,  for  they  had  joined  the  Schmalkalde 
League,  and  their  city  had  been  besieged  and  captured  by 
Charles  V.  The  clemency  they  experienced  on  that  occasion 
left  them  grateful  and  loyal,  and  remained  anxious  not  to  give 
any  further  cause  of  offence.  When,  therefore,  the  accusation 
against  Knox  was  brought  before  them,  they  were  bound  to 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  29 

deal  with  the  matter,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  zealous 
Reformer  would  have  to  suffer  for  his  indiscretion.  Fortu- 
nately for  him,  Glauberg  and  his  associates  were  only  too 
anxious  to  shield  him  from  harm,  and  were  the  very  last  people 
to  proceed  to  extremities.  But  they  were  none  the  less  desirous 
to  get  rid  of  so  dangerous  a  man  as  soon  as  possible,  and  they 
informed  him  that  he  must  at  once  leave  the  city.  On  the  25th 
of  March  Knox  preached  to  his  adherents  in  Ins  own  lodgings, 
and  endeavoured  to  cheer  their  drooping  spirits.  The  following- 
day  he  left  for  Geneva,  and  for  three  or  four  miles  on  his 
journey  he  enjoyed  the  company  of  some  of  the  most  devoted 
of  his  friends.  The  same  day  the  Coxans  obtained  from  the 
alarmed  magistrates  the  permission  to  establish  the  English 
Order  at  Frankfort. 

The  Anglican  party  had  got  rid  of  their  adversary,  but  at 
what  price  to  themselves !  They  had  brought  an  accusation 
against  Knox  that  might  have  cost  that  Reformer  his  head,  and 
at  the  very  least  would  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  reside  in 
any  city  of  the  Empire.  Tins  they  had  done,  not  from  any 
love  towards  Mary  or  Philip,  or  Charles  V.,  whom  they  detested 
as  cordially  as  any  one,  but  simply  to  gain  their  own  ends. 
They  might  well  protest  that  the  Book  of  Knox  had  embittered 
the  persecution  in  England,  the  very  energy  of  their  protesta- 
tions proves  the  uneasiness  of  their  consciences  upon  what  they 
had  done,  and  accuses  them  of  having  done  wrong,  even  if 
their  end  had  been  a  good  one.  They  had  done  only  too  much 
to  merit  the  fiery  and  indignant  recriminations  of  Knox. 
"  Seeking  to  their  old  shot  anchor,"  wrote  the  Reformer,  "  they 
cried  out  against  me,  'He  is  not  Cagsar's  friend,'  the  which 
dart  the  devil  doth  ever  shoot  by  the  craft  of  the  priests  against 
the  true  preachers.  But  when  neither  doctrine  nor  life  can  be 
reproved  in  Christ  and  his  saints,  yet  this  serves  at  all  assays. 
Though  they  love  not  the  Emperor  no  more  than  did  the  old 
Pharisees,  for  hatred  of  their  brethren  they  can  find  such 
cautels." 


30  Triumph  of  Cox. 

But  Cox  had  successfully  rid  himself  of  the  most  formidable 
of  his  opponents,  and  he  imagined  that  from  this  moment  he 
would  have  but  little  difficulty  in  inducing  "Whittingham  and 
the  rest  of  the  party  to  accept  the  English  Prayer-book.  At 
first  all  went  well  with  him.  The  magistrates,  in  thorough 
alarm,  made  further  concessions  to  him  than  they  might  other- 
wise have  accorded,  and  they  not  only  authorized  the  complete 
establishment  of  the  English  Order  at  Frankfort,  but  even 
went  so  far  as  to  enjoin  Whittingham  and  his  party  to  submit 
to  it.  It  was  of  no  use  for  the  unhappy  Knoxans  to  appeal 
to  the  authorities  and  remind  them  of  their  former  order. 
Irritated  by  the  unseemly  and  unreasonable  squabbles  of  the 
English,  which  threatened  to  compromise  their  hosts,  Grlauberg 
replied  with  some  humour  that  he  was  informed  that  both 
parties  were  fully  agreed  and  contented,  and  so  dismissed  the 
envoys  to  their  lodgings.  In  an  interview  with  Whittingham 
Glauberg  coaxed  him  to  be  contented,  and  promised  that  he 
would  protect  his  party  from  any  intolerable  oppression. 

But  the  Knoxans,  who  now  took  the  name  of  the 
"  Oppressed  Congregation,"  were  not  inclined  to  accept  the 
English  Book,  and  certainly  Cox  did  not  make  submission  easy 
for  them. 

Thanks  to  the  device  of  Isaacs,  the  Dean  of  Christ  Church 
found  himself  without  a  rival,  the  undoubted  head  of  the 
Church  at  Frankfort,  and  free  to  carry  his  ideas  into  practise. 
Knox  had  already  declared  that  the  struggle  was  one  of  the 
priests  against  the  preachers,  and  Cox  betrayed  his  sacerdotalism 
by  the  measures  he  took  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Church 
he  ruled.  In  a  meeting  called  for  the  purpose  of  electing  a 
new  head,  only  those  who  had  been  priests  and  ministers  in 
England  were  allowed  to  vote ;  and  for  the  selection  of  the 
elders  and  deacons,  only  those  who  had  signed  the  articles 
of  religion  lately  set  forth  by  Edward  VI.  had  a  voice. 
Christopher  Goodman  alone  objected  on  behalf  of  the  opposi- 
tion.    They  ought  first,  he  contended,  to  agree  upon  some 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  31 

order  for  the  Church,  with  the  consent  of  the  congregation ; 
and  they  should  not  proceed  to  the  election  of  officers  without 
the  consent  of  the  whole  body  of  the  Church.  Both  of 
Goodman's  points  were  defeated.  The  English  Order,  it  was 
asserted,  had  been  already  agreed  upon,  for  the  decree  of  the 
magistrates  had  settled  that  question.  As  for  permitting 
everybody  to  vote  in  the  elections,  the  idea  could  not  be  enter- 
tained for  one  moment,  tf  for  what  kind  of  election,"  they  said, 
"  could  be  expected,  if  the  voters  were  not  previously  agreed 
as  to  doctrine  ?  " 

From  their  action  at  this  time  it  appears  as  if  the  Prayer- 
book  party  were  not  quite  sure  of  their  majority.  They 
therefore  thought  it  necessary  to  exclude  some  of  the  lay 
members  from  voting.  This  device  gave  them  the  majority 
for  the  time  being,  but  failed  to  assure  the  permanent  peace  of 
the  Church  they  sought  to  settle,  and  left  the  way  open  for 
the  disputes  and  troubles  that  followed.  But  of  this  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  speak  further  on. 

In  the  pursuit  of  their  end  the  majority  altogether  ignored 
the  existence  of  the  previous  Church,  at  Frankfort,  and  paid  no 
heed  to  the  clause  in  the  discipline  of  the  6th  of  February,  that 
referred  to  Calvin  and  four  others  to  arbitrate  in  case  of  dispute. 
The  English  Order  was  established  without  any  appeal  to  the 
congregation,  and  possibly  against  the  wishes  of  the  majority 
simply  at  the  wish  of  those  who  had  come  latest  to  Frankfort, 
and  who  intended  to  leave  as  soon  as  they  had  accomplished 
the  object  of  their  mission.  They  might,  however,  claim  to 
be  technically  in  the  right,  for  they  had  the  order  of  the 
magistrates  in  favour  of  the  English  service.  Those  who  had 
come  with  Cox  might  object  that  they  at  least  had  had  no  part 
in  the  compromise  of  the  preceding  February,  and  that  in 
entering  the  Church  they  had  made  no  promise  to  submit  to 
the  discipline  then  in  force.  But  they  were  not  altogether 
easy  in  their  minds,  and  they  thought  it  necessary  to 
write  to  Calvin  to  justify  their  action,  and  to  endeavour  to 


32         Departure  of  the  Oppressed  Congregation. 

enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  great  Reformer  on  their  side. 
This  they  signally  failed  to  do,  however,  for  though  the  reply 
from  Geneva  is  studiously  moderate  in  its  tone,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  perceive  that  Calvin  disapproved  of  their  doings 
from  beginning  to  end.  At  the  same  time  it  is  only  fair  to 
add  that,  at  the  moment  the  letter  was  written,  "Whittingham 
was  in  Geneva,  and  had  certainly  detailed  to  Calvin  his  version 
of  the  story.  But  in  any  case  the  French  Reformer's  verdict 
would  probably  have  been  the  same,  and  it  is  curious  that  the 
Anglican  party  thought  it  worth  while  to  refer  to  him.  The 
action  of  the  latter  only  shows  that  they  continued  to  regard 
themselves  as  Calvinists,  and  that  they  considered  that  the 
English  Church  had  been  founded  and  formed  on  the  Con- 
tinental model. 

Whittingham  and  his  companions  having  failed  to  move 
the  magistrates  in  their  favour,  and  clearly  perceiving  that 
their  efforts  in  opposition  would  be  fruitless,  resolved  to  depart 
from  Frankfort,  for  they  were  determined  not  to  subscribe  to 
the  Prayer-book.  Cox,  however,  did  not  wish  them  to  go ; 
that  was  the  very  last  thing  he  desired,  and  it  formed  no  part 
of  his  plans.  What  he  wanted  to  do  when  he  came  to  Frank- 
fort, was  to  put  an  end  to  the  threatened  schism  among  the 
English  Protestants.  If  Whittingham  and  his  followers  were 
allowed  to  go  to  some  other  city,  and  there  found  a  new  church 
on  their  own  plan,  this  end  could  not  be  attained,  and  the 
situation  would  be  rather  worse,  if  anything,  than  it  had  been 
before.  Cox  therefore  did  his  utmost  to  detain  the  "  oppressed 
congregation  "  in  the  city.  He  appealed  to  the  magistrate, 
he  tried  force,  and  finally  he  had  recourse  to  persuasion  ;  but 
as  he  flatly  refused  to  put  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the 
arbitrators,  all  attempts  at  accommodation  were  manifestly 
futile,  and  nothing  remained  but  to  let  them  go.  A  general 
meeting  was  held  on  the  last  day  of  April  in  order  to  see  if 
an  arbitration  could  be  arranged.  Cox,  however,  interfered, 
and  said  that  they  should  have  none,  and  if  they  wanted  a 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  33 

remedy  let  them  go  and  seek  it  where  they  liked.  Whitting- 
ham,  Fox,  Cole,  and  others,  were  then  summoned  and  asked 
to  give  the  reasons  for  their  resolution  to  depart.  This  gave 
the  Calvinist  leaders  the  opportunity  for  a  recital  of  their 
grievances.  This  they  did  at  some  length,  beginning  with 
the  disorderly  manner  in  which  Cox  and  the  others  had  thrust 
themselves  into  the  Church,  and  going  on  to  the  displacement 
of  the  former  officers  of  the  Church,  without  any  cause  being 
shown,  and  the  establishment  of  Popish  superstition  and 
unprofitable  ceremonies.  It  goes  without  saying  that  they  did 
not  forget  to  mention  the  accusation  of  treason  that  had 
driven  Knox  from  their  midst.  This  list  of  grievances  led  at 
once  to  recrimination,  and  the  dispute  waxed  hot ;  the  words 
"  papistical "  and  "  schismatic  "  being  freely  thrown  about. 

In  this  spirit  of  anger,  the  oppressed  congregation  departed 
from  Frankfort,  leaving  Cox  to  make  what  use  he  wished  of 
his  success. 

An  asylum  was  offered  to  the  Calvinists  at  Basle,  and  thither 
many  of  them  repaired.  But,  having  received  the  offer  of 
a  church  at  Geneva,  Whittingham,  Williams,  Gilby,  Goodman, 
Sir  Francis  Knollys,  and  others,  departed  for  that  city,  pre- 
ferring to  enjoy  the  pure  atmosphere  of  Calvinism,  and  free 
association  with  its  illustrious  founder. 

At  Frankfort,  where  Cox  was  left  in  undisputed  possession, 
the  settlement  of  the  Church  was  rapidly  carried  out,  upon  the 
same  principles  that  had  been  already  announced.  Whitehead 
was  appointed  to  be  the  pastor,  and  a  new  Book  of  Discipline 
was  drawn  up.  This  system  seems  to  have  been  singularly 
deficient  in  some  important  matters,  and  to  have  ill-defined 
the  duties  of  pastor,  elders,  and  deacons,  and  their  relations 
towards,  and  power  over  the  congregation.  So  far  as  the 
definition  of  the  duties  of  the  rulers  of  the  Church  went,  they 
were  as  follows  :  the  pastor  was  to  preach,  to  administer  the 
sacraments,  and  to  superintend  the  morals  of  his  congregation. 
The  elders  were  to  occupy  the  position  of  censors  and  overseers 

D 


34  Coxs  Reforms  at  Frankfort. 

of  manners,  with  the  powers  of  punishing  disorders.  Finally 
the  duty  of  the  deacons  consisted  in  providing  for  the  poor, 
and  in  visiting  the  sick.  The  whole  system  resembles  to  a 
singular  degree  the  government  of  Geneva  under  Calvin,  and 
the  latter  probably  formed  the  model  from  which  the  former 
was  drawn  up.  This  persistent  recourse  of  the  Coxans  to 
Calvin  and  to  Calvin's  ideas  shows  that  in  spite  of  the  recent 
events  the  leaders  of  the  Church  at  Frankfort  had  very  strong 
Calvinistic  leanings,  and  further,  that  they  considered  them- 
selves to  be  Calvinists. 

In  order  that  his  congregation  might  not  incur  the  reproach 
of  idleness  or  ignorance,  while  their  countrymen  in  other  cities 
were  actively  at  work,  Cox  established  a  University  at  Frankfort 
to  promote  the  study  of  theology.  In  this  college  Home 
became  lecturer  in  Hebrew,  Mullings  occupied  the  Greek  chair,  - 
and  Treherrn  was  reader  in  Divinity.  It  may  very  reasonably 
be  doubted  if  any  serious  work  was  performed  by  this  body. 
The  great  struggle  that  began  only  a  few  weeks  later  must  in 
any  case  have  interrupted  the  students  as  well  as  their  pro- 
fessors, and  in  all  probability  the  lectures  and  work  ceased 
altogether. 

Having  completed  these  final  arrangements,  and  consider- 
ing that  there  remained  nothing  more  for  him  to  do,  Cox 
handed  over  the  care  of  the  Church  to  Whitehead,  and  departed 
to  Zurich.  At  the  same  time  the  great  majority  of  those 
who  had  accompanied  Mm  and  helped  Mm  to  carry  out  his 
plan  retired  respectively  to  Strasburg  and  Zurich,  the  places 
from  which  they  had  started.  It  seems  indeed  strange,  after 
the  pains  they  had  been  at  to  reform  the  Church  at  Frankfort, 
that  they  should  not  have  thought  it  worth  their  while  to  have 
remained  there,  particularly  as  they  had  on  their  arrival 
especially  insisted  upon  becoming  members  of  the  congregation. 
Upon  these  considerations  they  seem  to  have  exposed  them- 
selves to  charges  of  lightness,  and  even  of  spitefulness  towards 
their  brethren,  and  a  few  years  later  Whittingham  said  of  them 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  35 

that  to  some  of  these  persecutors  the  time  of  exile  was  a 
pleasant  progress  or  recreation. 

If  j  success  is  a  justification,  however,  Cox  would  obtain  a 
triumphant  acquittal  from  the  accusations  of  his  enemies. 
Although  he  had  failed  to  stamp  out  the  schism  among  his 
countrymen,  and  though  his  efforts  to  induce  them  to  conform 
had  been  vain,  at  Frankfort  his  triumph  had  been  complete, 
and  as  far  as  that  city  was  concerned  he  had  in  six  months 
accomplished  all  that  he  had  come  to  perform.  Knox,  Whit- 
tingham,  the  very  magistrates  of  the  town  themselves,  had  been 
alike  obliged  to  bow  before  his  conquering^  arm,  and  he  left 
behind  him  a  Church  established  and  administered  after  his 
own  heart. 

Viewed  from  other  standpoints,  higher  and  more  just,  his 
actions  cannot  possibly  appear  in  so  favourable  a  light.  He 
had  shown  himself  high-handed,  ungrateful,  and  uncompro- 
mising. At  a  time  when  their  common  misfortune  should 
have  made  the  exiles  at  one  with  each  other,  Cox  stands  forth 
with  unenviable  distinction  as  the  man  above  all  others  who 
devoted  his  energies  to  setting  his  countrymen  by  the  ears. 
He  had  forced  himself  upon  the  unoffending  congregation  at 
Frankfort,  driven  their  pastor  from  the  city,  and  their  elders 
from  their  posts.  Without  consulting  their  opinion,  he  had 
introduced  a  system  of  discipline  that  might  or  might  not 
agree  with  their  inclinations  ;  and,  when  all  was  done,  he  had 
departed  with  his  troop  to  other  places. 

In  estimating  Cox's  conduct,  it  would  be  manifestly  unfair 
to  judge  him  after  the  standards  of  modern  toleration.  Much 
must  be  allowed  to  his  fiery  zeal  for  the  system  of  doctrine  he 
had  himself  helped  to  draw  up,  as  well  as  to  Ins  anxiety  to 
prevent  a  schism.  It  is  in  the  face  of  such  considerations  that 
we  may  excuse  the  brutality  with  which  he  broke  in  upon  the 
quiet  of  a  peaceful  congregation  ;  the  peremptory  way  in  which 
he  put  aside  the  existing  officers  and  discipline,  and  even  the 
uncompromising  harshness  with  which  he  refused  to  refer  to 


2,6  Estimate  of  Coxs  Action. 

arbitration.  But  when  all  that  can  be  advanced  in  his  favour 
on  these  subjects  has  been  pleaded,  what  shall  be  said  for  his 
treatment  of  Knox  ?  What  age  has  not  condemned  ingratitude  ? 
From  the  Scotch  Reformer  he  had  received  more  consideration 
than  he  had  any  right  to  expect.  To  his  decision  he  owed 
the  admission  of  himself  and  his  party  into  the  Church  at 
Frankfort,  by  which  alone  he  could  hope  to  exert  any  influence 
over  that  body.  In  return  for  this  kindness  and  courtesy  he 
offered  no  thanks,  but  brought  forward  instead  a  malignant 
accusation,  which  for  aught  he  knew  might  have  resulted  in 
the  condemnation  of  Knox  to  a  painful  and  ignominious  death, 
and  which,  in  any  case,  could  not  fail  to  make  his  sojourn  on 
the  Continent  exceedingly  difficult. 

If  this  action  had  been  prompted  by  loyalty,  it  would  still 
be  possible  for  us  to  entertain  some  respect  for  Cox,  but  this 
excuse  was  never  pleaded  by  his  apologist,  and  indeed  it  cannot 
for  one  moment  stand  the  process  of  criticism.  The  one  argu- 
ment advanced  in  his  favour  is  that  Knox's  book  had  aggra- 
vated persecution  in  England.  But  of  this  assertion  there  is 
not  the  slightest  proof,  and,  even  if  it  were  true,  the  pro- 
scription of  Knox  on  the  Continent  would  not  have  made  any 
difference. 

It  is  but  too  clear  that,  in  taking  this  step,  Cox  was  influenced 
by  only  one  idea.  To  drive  Knox  from  Frankfort  was  his  sole 
end  and  aim,  and  to  accomplish  this  he  was  ready  to  go  to  any 
lengths,  utterly  reckless  of  the  evil  consequences  that  might 
follow. 

So  far  as  actual  results  go,  Cox  had  aggravated  rather  than 
appeased  the  schism  that  he  so  much  feared.  The  separation 
that  he  effected  was  destined  to  last  many  years.  It  was  he  who 
struck  the  first  blow,  which,  followed  by  many  others,  separated 
from  the  body  of  the  Church  that  great  party  which,  under  the 
name  of  Puritan,  rose  into  eminence  during  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth, which  revolted  with  terrible  wrath  against  unprincipled 
tyranny,    which  conquered  at  Marston    Moor,   Naseby,   and 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  37 

Worcester,  which,  in  the  person  of  Cromwell,  attained  a  com- 
manding position  among  the  powers  of  Europe,  and  which,  while 
in  England  it  fell  defeated  and  discredited  at  the  Restoration, 
was  at  that  very  time  laying  the  foundations  of  a  mighty  nation 
in  the  New  World.  It  is,  therefore,  as  an  anticipation  of  the 
Acts  of  Uniformity  and  Supremacy,  of  the  Clarendon  Code, 
and  of  the  numerous  other  devices  designed  to  hedge  round 
and  define  the  boundaries  of  the  English  Church,  that  Cox's 
action  is  of  importance,  and  the  part  he  played  in  the  formation 
of  the  body  of  the  Puritans  was  no  small  one.  Before  the  time 
of  the  exile,  that  party  had  hardly,  if  at  all,  realized  that  it 
held  views  differing:  from  those  of  the  other  English  Protestants. 
The  initial  difficulties  at  Frankfort  and  the  opposition  of  the 
Churches  at  Frankfort  had  served  to  bring  these  differences  to 
light.  It  was  not  until  the  final  quarrel  with  Cox,  however, 
that  these  difficulties  were  considered  as  insurmountable,  and 
that  it  became  clear  that  no  accommodation  could  be  effected. 
When  Whittingham  and  his  companions  set  out  with  angry 
protestations  from  Frankfort,  the  Puritan  party  had  been 
formed,  its  tenets  and  dogmas  had  been  defined,  disputed,  and 
defended,  and  it  had  even  acquired  the  name  it  was  so  soon 
to  make  famous,  and  which  would,  in  the  succeeding  century, 
resound  with  the  clang  of  arms  throughout  civilized  Europe. 

Retiring  defeated  from  the  preliminary  skirmish  at  Frank- 
fort, the  Puritans  recognized  that  the  struggle  had  only  just 
begun,  and  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  prepare  for  a  conflict 
upon  a  much  wider  scale,  and  with  far  more  formidable  adver- 
saries. They  realized  that  the  time  of  their  exile  could  not 
be  for  them  a  time  of  refreshment  and  repose,  of  pleasant 
journeys  and  quiet  recreation.  The  battle  was  at  hand,  and 
it  behoved  them  to  be  ready  for  it,  to  prepare  and  sharpen  their 
weapons  in  order  to  meet  the  foe  when  occasion  should  arise. 

It  was  in  the  Church  at  Geneva  that  this  work  was  carried  out. 
On  the  13th  of  October,  1555,  a  party  of  the  exiles  from  Frank- 
fort arrived  in  that  city,  some  forty-eight  souls  in  all,  and  founded 


38  The  Church  at  Geneva. 

a  Church  there.  In  the  absence  of  Knox,  for  whom  they  all 
continued  to  have  an  affectionate  regard,  Goodman  and  Gilby 
were  elected  to  act  as  their  ministers.  This  little  Church,  so 
slender  in  numbers,  came  at  once  to  be  recognized  as  the  centre 
and  home  of  the  Puritan  exiles.  From  the  day  of  its  founda- 
tion its  numbers  were  continually  being  increased  by  fresh 
arrivals  of  Englishmen,  seeking  a  congenial  home  for  themselves 
and  their  families  during  this  unhappy  time  of  exile.  Thither 
came,  among  others,  Pilkington,  Bishop  of  Durham,  with  Dr. 
Sampson,  his  dean  ;  Scory,  Bishop  of  Eochester  ;  Bentham,  of 
Magdalen  College  ;  and  Cole,  of  Corpus  ;  Kethe,  the  hymn- 
writer  ;  Percival  Wiburne,  one  of  the  most  sturdy  of  the  Non- 
conformists ;  and  Thomas  Bodley,  then  a  mere  lad,  but  destined 
to  perpetuate  his  memory  in  the  magnificent  library  at  Oxford 
that  bears  his  name. 

The  Genevan  Church  was  formed  of  men  of  a  very  great 
strength  of  character,  possessed  by  very  strong  opinions,  which 
they  were  prepared  to  zealously  defend.  Of  all  the  churches 
founded  abroad  by  the  English  at  this  time,  this  was  the  one 
in  which  the  greatest  amount  of  work  was  done,  and  where  the 
individual  members  laboured  the  most.  It  alone  produced 
works  of  permanent  importance  destined  long  to  survive  the 
temporary  and  passing  conditions  which  had  called  them  into 
being. 

In  their  controversy  with  the  Anglican  party  at  Frankfort 
the  Puritans  had  always  in  the  last  resort  taken  their  stand  at 
the  same  point.  For  them  there  was  but  one  touchstone  in 
matters  of  religion,  and  that  touchstone  was  the  Bible.  In  the 
endless  discussions  upon  forms  and  ceremonies  to  be  observed, 
they  demanded  but  one  thing  :  could  they  be  justified  out  of 
the  Bible  ?  If  so,  well  and  good  ;  if  not  they  must  be  rejected 
as  Popish  superstition,  worthless  tradition  that  had  been  intro- 
duced into  a  corrupted  Church.  This  was  the  reason  that  led 
them  to  reject  so  much  of  the  Prayer-book,  in  the  compilation 
of  which  its  authors  had  retained  many  of  the  old  prayers  and 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  39 

hymns  they  had  learned  to  love  and  revere  so  well.  But  the 
Puritans  would  suffer  none  of  this.  The  retention  of  saints' 
days,  the  Te  Deum,  and  other  hymns,  and  many  of  the  other 
forms  of  prayer,  were  not  to  be  found  in  the  infallible  Book, 
and  they  put  them  coldly  aside,  not  only  as  unchristian,  but 
as  absolutely  pernicious. 

With  this  exaggerated  opinion  of  the  value  of  the  Scrip- 
tures it  was  not  unnatural  that  they  should  wish  to  have  a 
version  of  their  own,  to  be  at  once  the  guide  of  their  conduct 
and  the  expression  of  their  religious  opinions.  The  existing 
versions  all  left  much  to  be  desired  from  their  point  of  view. 
The  principal  were  those  of  Cranmer  and  Coverdale.  The 
former,  however,  was  little  more  than  a  re-issue  of  the 
latter.  These  early  editions,  moreover,  were  too  unwieldy,  and 
exceedingly  expensive.  But  a  book  of  so  much  importance  as 
the  Bible  must  be  easily  accessible  to  all,  and  it  was  therefore 
imperative  to  provide  an  edition  of  a  handy  size,  and  cheap 
enough  to  be  bought  by  nearly  everybody. 

A  more  important  defect  in  their  eyes  was  the  absence  of 
explanatory  or  dogmatic  notes.  The  Puritan,  quite  as  much 
as  the  Catholic,  held  firmly  to  particular  explanations  of  certain 
passages  of  Scripture,  and  for  the  correct  appreciation  and 
dissemination  of  his  views  it  was  necessary  that  these  should 
be  fully  explained. 

The  Church  at  Geneva  set  itself  the  gigantic  task  of  pre- 
paring a  version  of  the  Bible  in  which  these  defects  should  be 
remedied.  Although  they  had  Coverdale's  translation  as  a 
guide,  as  well  as  the  personal  assistance  of  the  translator  him- 
self, their  enterprise  was  nevertheless  colossal.  With  incredible 
energy,  however,  they  dauntlessly  set  to  work,  and  laboured 
with  extraordinary  industry  both  night  and  day  for  over  two 
years.  At  the  end  of  this  time  they  had  successfully  accom- 
plished their  task.  Their  translation  was  immediately  printed 
and  given  to  the  world,  where  it  speedily  secured  a  wide 
popularity  under  the  name  of  the  Geneva,  or  "  Breeches  "  Bible. 


40  The  Geneva  Bible. 

The  new  version  was  distinctly  controversial  in  character, 
and  bore  everywhere  the  marks  of  the  peculiar  tenets  of  its 
authors.  For  the  first  time  the  Apocrypha  was  excluded  from 
the  Bible,  and  only  the  canonical  books  appeared ;  from  the 
Calendar  that  precedes  the  text,  all  names  of  saints  and  saints' 
days  were  rigorously  struck  out.  They  were  replaced  by  the 
occasional  mention  of  Scripture  facts,  or  by  references  to  the 
deaths  of  the  great  reformers.  But  it  was  in  the  critical  and 
explanatory  notes  that  the  real  leanings  of  the  translators  were 
most  manifest,  though  they  were  often  very  helpful  in  explain- 
ing the  difficulties  of  Scripture. 

A  few  minor  alterations  from  the  model  of  older  transla- 
tions helped  to  make  the  new  edition  more  popular.  The  old 
and  cumbrous  black  letter  type  was  definitely  abandoned  in 
favour  of  ordinary  Italian  characters.  The  large  unwieldy 
folio  was  reduced  to  a  more  convenient  quarto.  Finally  the 
division  into  verses  was  for  the  first  time  adopted. 

These  numerous  advantages  gave  to  the  Breeches  Bible  a 
wide  and  lasting  popularity.  It  became  the  strength  and  stay 
of  the  Puritan  party,  the  great  means  which  enabled  them  to 
come  triumphantly  through  the  difficult  and  trying  times  of 
the  Elizabethan  persecution. 

To  the  Puritan  family  of  those  days  the  Bible  was  not  only 
the  guide  and  controller  of  life,  but  it  also  played  an  important 
part  in  the  instruction  of  the  mind.  From  its  religious  pre- 
eminence it  came  to  play  a  great  educational  role.  It  is 
impossible  to  over-estimate  its  extraordinary  influence  on  the 
formation  of  the  succeeding  generation.  From  it  the  Puritans 
drew  all  their  religious  inspiration  ;  in  it  they  found  analogies 
to  the  great  political  and  ecclesiastical  events  of  their  day  ;  after 
its  heroes  and  heroines  they  named  their  children  ;  its  phrase- 
ology became  theirs  ;  it  was  for  them  a  literary  treasure,  a 
library  from  which  they  loved  to  make  quotations. 

From  its  activity  in  so  many  directions  the  influence  of 
the  Geneva  Bible  has  in  all  probability  never  been  equalled  by 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  41 

any  other  version  of  the  Scriptures.  Even  the  beautiful  and 
finished  authorized  translation  of  1611  failed  at  first  to  do 
more  than  hold  its  own,  and  did  not  win  ultimate  supremacy 
until  after  the  lapse  of  many  years.  The  people  felt  loth  to 
abandon  a  treasure  that  had  become  so  dear  to  them,  and 
which  they  had  grown  up  to  regard  almost  as  having  an 
authority  and  an  infallibility  of  its  own. 

This  monumental  work  of  translation  was  not  the  only 
production  of  the  Genevan  Church.  We  have  seen  that  the 
Puritans  rejected  the  Te  Deum,  and  in  fact  all  other  hymns 
not  found  in  the  Scriptures.  But  their  severity  in  this  respect 
left  them  face  to  face  with  a  difficulty,  for  some  sort  of  singing- 
was  necessary  for  their  services.  In  the  Scriptures  they  had 
indeed  the  Psalms,  but  from  a  musical  point  of  view  they  were 
not  easy  to  deal  with,  and  at  best  could  only  be  chanted.  It 
was  with  the  intention,  therefore,  of  meeting  this  difficulty  that 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Genevan  Church,  who  had  a  turn 
for  poetry,  undertook  to  render  the  whole  of  these  ancient 
Hebrew  poems  into  English  verse.  This  work,  when  completed, 
formed  the  well-known  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms,  which, 
long  after  it  had  been  abandoned  by  the  English,  remained  in 
use  among  the  Scotch  Covenanters  to  comfort  and  cheer  them 
in  their  days  of  persecution  and  adversity.  The  whole  of  this 
task  was  not  finished  at  the  time  when  the  exiles  returned  to 
England,  but  much  had  been  done  even  then.  The  principal 
writers  were  Whittingham  and  Kethe,  and  it  is  from  the  pen 
of  the  latter  that  we  have  the  spirited  version  of  the  hundredth 
Psalm  which  still  remains  in  our  hymn-books.  It  was  also  in 
all  probability  at  Geneva  that  it  was  first  sung  to  the  majestic 
march  of  the  Old  Hundredth,  then  quite  a  new  tune.  How 
can  we  fail  to  admire  the  courage  and  faith  of  these  old 
Puritans  who,  driven  from  their  homes  for  their  faith,  and 
persecuted  by  their  brethren  for  their  dogmas,  could,  in  the 
midst  of  their  arduous  labours,  join  in  praising  God  in  cheer- 
fulness, hope,  and  courage — 


42  The  "  Book  of  Martyrs? 

"  Under  the  shadow  of  Thy  throne 
Thy  saints  have  dwelt  secure ; 
Sufficient  is  Thine  arm  alone, 
And  Thy  defence  is  sure." 

But  one  more  work  was  needed  to  complete  the  equipment 
of  the  Puritans.  In  their  disputes  with  Catholics  and  Anglicans 
they  rejected  the  saints  recognized  by  both.  "We  have  seen 
that  the  Calendar  of  the  Geneva  Bible  omitted  all  mention  of 
saints'  days,  and  though  it  replaced  them  by  the  death  days 
of  the  great  reformers,  only  a  small  portion  of  the  gap  could 
be  filled  by  this  device.  But  every  Church,  sect,  and  party, 
has  need  of  its  heroes,  to  inspire  the  living  with  courage  by 
the  example  of  their  virtue.  The  cruel  persecutions  of  Mary, 
while  giving  ample  opportunity  for  the  display  of  heroism, 
provided  the  Protestant  Church  with  martyrs  whom  they  could 
set  oif  against  the  heroes  of  the,  Catholics.  It  only  remained  to 
collect  the  acts  of  these  victims  of  Mary's  zeal  and  bigotry  to 
have  a  complete  counterpart  to  the  lives  of  the  saints. 

The  Church  at  Geneva  was  already  too  much  occupied  with 
its  great  undertakings  to  be  able  to  think  of  approaching  such 
a  project.  It  was  not  left  unaccomplished,  however,  and  this 
period  of  exile,  so  important  to  the  Puritan  cause,  was  not  to 
leave  it  unequipped  in  any  particular.  The  individual  who 
undertook  the  task  of  writing  the  history  of  the  Protestant 
martyrs,  was  John  Fox.  Though  he  did  not  actually  belong- 
to  the  Church  at  Geneva,  he  was  entirely  at  one  with  its 
members  in  spirit  and  in  doctrine.  At  Frankfort,  in  spite  of 
his  mild  and  conciliatory  nature,  he  had  thrown  in  his  lot 
unreservedly  with  the  Calvinist  party,  and  he  was  one  of  the 
five  who  had  voted  for  the  adoption  in  its  entirety  of  the 
Genevan  Order.  During  the  quarrel  between  the  Coxans  and 
Knoxans  he  had  tried  as  far  as  was  possible  to  mediate  between 
the  disputants.  But  his  sympathies  leaned  always  to  the 
latter  party,  and  when  finally  Whittingham  and  his  party  left 
the  city,  Fox  accompanied  them. 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  43 

He  took  up  his  residence  at  Basle,  on  account  of  the 
printing  press  situated  there,  and  he  seems  to  have  set  to  work 
at  once  upon  the  great  work  which  has  made  his  name  famous. 
His  fellow-countrymen  rendered  him  every  assistance,  and  one 
of  the  most  active  of  his  collaborators  was  Grindal.  The 
future  Primate  deeply  interested  himself  in  the  work,  and  was 
most  helpful  in  collecting  materials.  For  the  history  of  the 
martyrdoms  of  Cranmer  and  Bradford,  he  was  almost  solely 
responsible.  Not  only  did  Grindal  perform  these  kindly 
offices,  but  he  also  aided  in  correcting  the  style  of  the  book. 
Fox  was  a  very  indifferent  scholar,  and  as  he  wished  to  write 
his  work  in  Latin,  according  to  the  prevailing  custom,  he 
could  not  trust  himself  entirely  without  some  such  assistance. 

The  "Book  of  Martyrs"  is  the  common  property  of  all 
Protestants,  and  it  would  be  an  absurd  pretention  to  claim  it 
exclusively  for  the  Puritans.  At  the  same  time  it  seems  to 
belong  in  an  especial  manner  to  that  party,  and  they  perhaps 
valued  it  the  most  highly.  By  its  authorship  they  certainly 
had  the  prior  claim,  and  during  the  persecutions  of  Elizabeth 
they  might  compare  their  own  sufferings  with  those  of  their 
heroic  predecessors,  and  this  the  more  fortunate  Anglicans,  safe 
within  the  pale  of  their  Church,  could  hardly  do. 

If  Geneva  was  the  centre  of  Puritanism  during  the  days 
of  the  exile,  Zurich  claims  the  distinction  of  having  been  the 
metropolis  of  the  Anglicans.  This  Church  enjoys  the  reputa- 
tion of  having  been  the  most  learned  of  all  those  founded  by 
the  English  abroad  at  this  time.  Among  its  members  were 
Peter  Martyr,  the  most  prominent  of  the  foreigners  who  had 
helped  to  direct  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  under 
Edward  VI.  At  the  head  of  the  Church  was  the  erudite 
Bullinger,  a  man  universally  respected,  and  who  exercised  and 
continued  to  exercise  a  vast  influence  over  the  English  Pro- 
testants of  all  opinions.  Of  the  English  residents  perhaps  the 
best  known  is  the  diligent  Jewel,  one  of  the  first  exponents 


44  The  Church  at  Zurich. 

of  Anglicanism,  and  the  master  of  the  judicious  Hooker.  At 
his  side  were  Parkhurst  and  Pilkington,  and  a  number  of  other 
English  churchmen  who  became  more  or  less  distinguished  in 
the  following  reign. 

Owing  to  some  misconception,  the  origin  of  which  it  would 
be  hard  to  explain,  the  idea  subsequently  got  about  that  the 
English  at  Zurich  passed  a  very  miserable  time,  and  suffered 
the  greatest  hardships.  This  story  being  exaggerated,  it  was 
actually  reported  that  they  were  reduced  to  such  straits  as  to 
eat  mice.  Nothing  can  be  farther  removed  from  the  truth 
than  these  statements.  Of  all  the  English  abroad  at  this  time, 
those  at  Zurich  certainly  lived  the  easiest  and  most  comfortable 
life.  It  is  true  that  some  of  them  were  obliged  to  teach  or 
write  in  order  to  earn  a  living,  but  they  suffered  from  nothing 
worse,  and  that  in  itself  can  hardly  be  considered  a  hardship. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  town  extended  the  heartiest  welcome 
to  the  homeless  refugees,  and  offered  them  their  hospitality. 
In  the  house  of  the  printer,  Christopher  Froscher,  we  read  that 
twelve  of  them  lived  together  very  merrily.  But  it  is  in 
letters  written  subsequent  to  the  reign  of  Mary  that  we  have 
the  most  decisive  testimony  to  the  gratitude  of  the  exiles  of 
this  town.  In  the  heat  of  the  conflicts  engendered  by  disputes 
about  the  Church  settlement  in  England,  those  Elizabethan 
bishops  who  had  once  been  exiles  lamented  the  peace  and  rest 
they  had  enjoyed  in  the  little  Swiss  city.  "  0  Zurich,"  wrote 
Jewel,  "  how  much  oftener  do  I  now  think  of  thee  than  ever 
I  thought  of  England  when  I  was  at  Zurich."  In  a  letter  to 
Bullinger,  Lever  also  expresses  his  gratitude  in  the  following 
words,  "  I  cannot  but  retain  a  grateful  remembrance  of  that 
exceeding  hospitality  and  benevolence  which  Zurich  exhibited 
to  us  under  your  patronage  with  so  much  comfort,  benevolence, 
and  friendly  regard."  Finally,  in  August,  1573,  in  the  midst 
of  a  fierce  conflict  about  vestments  and  ceremonies,  Sandys 
wrote  to  Bullinger,  "I  wish  for  nothing  more  than  that, 
relieved  from  these  cares  and  anxieties  with  which  I  am  now 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  45 

overwhelmed,  I  might  pass  the  remainder  of  my  life  at  Zurich, 
as  a  sojourner  and  active  person." 

Nothing  can  be  more  decisive  than  the  testimony  of  these 
letters,  and  examples  of  the  kind  might  easily  be  multiplied. 

The  comfort  and  peace  of  the  exiles  at  Zurich  was  perhaps 
not  altogether  beneficial  to  them.  Although,  as  I  have  already 
said,  they  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  learned 
congregation  abroad,  and  though  their  time  was  chiefly  devoted 
to  literature,  yet  they  only  produced  some  pamphlets  of  a 
dogmatic  nature.  Nothing  of  any  permanent  value  issued 
from  their  press,  nothing  that  could  for  one  moment  be  com- 
pared with  the  gigantic  literary  efforts  of  the  Church  at 
Geneva. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  disputes  that  took  place  at  Frank- 
fort, and  the  various  divisions  which  took  place  among  the 
English  on  that  account,  I  have  employed  with  perhaps  too 
little  precision  or  explanation  the  terms  Anglican,  Puritan,  and 
Calvinist.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  only  during  the  exile 
that  these  terms  began  to  have  different  and  distinct  meanings, 
so  far  as  they  were  used  at  all.  All  the  English  Eeformers 
agreed  in  looking  upon  Calvin  as  one  of  the  greatest  expounders 
of  the  new  doctrines.  The  most  conservative  of  the  English 
exiles  considered  that  ceremonies  and  vestments  were  things 
needless  in  themselves,  and  which  might  readily  be  abandoned. 
Bullinger  had  declared  to  Whittingham  that  on  no  account 
could  he  approve  of  surplices,  the  churching  of  women,  the 
ring  in  marriage,  and  private  baptisms  ;  nay,  Cox  himself  in 
later  years  ran  some  danger  by  refusing  to  minister  in  Queen 
Elizabeth's  Chapel  because  of  the  crucifix  and  lights  there. 

It  might  therefore  seem  at  first  sight  as  if,  after  all,  there 
was  little  or  no  difference  between  the  doctrines  held  by  the 
English  at  Geneva  and  Zurich.  The  struggle  at  Frankfort, 
however,  had  served  to  bring  these  to  light.  The  Coxan  party 
represented  what  may  be  called  the  Anglican  feeling,  which 
retained  a  part  of  the  tradition  of  the  ancient  Catholic  Church, 


46 


Elizabeth  and  the  Church. 


and  held  the  sacerdotal  idea  of  the  superiority  of  the  clergy. 
These  qualifications  fitted  the  men  of  this  party  to  become 
members  of  the  state  Church  as  conceived  by  Elizabeth.  The 
greater  liberty  of  their  ideas  with  regard  to  tradition,  and 
their  sacerdotalism,  made  them  more  flexible  in  their  opinions 
than  the  sturdy  and  obstinate  Puritans  who  would  acknowledge 
no  authority  but  Scripture.  It  is  not  therefore  surprising  that 
it  was  from  among  the  Protestants  of  Zurich,  rather  than 
from  those  of  Geneva,  that  Elizabeth  chose  her  future  bishops 
and  church  dignitaries,  and  with  this  material,  Calvinistic  and 
Puritanical  as  it  was  to  a  large  extent,  she  was  enabled  to  form 
a  Church  to  her  liking. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   TROUBLES   AT   FRANKFORT   (CONTINUED). 

Having  thus  discussed  the  headquarters  of  both  hostile  camps, 
at  Geneva  and  at  Zurich,  and  having  examined  their  nature 
and  their  various  activities,  let  us  now  return  to  the  field  of 
battle,  to  Frankfort.  Cox's  success  had,  after  all,  been  but 
superficial,  and  the  congregation  began  its  quarrels  again 
almost  before  he  was  out  of  sight.  Much  must  be  allowed  for 
the  quarrelsome  nature  of  the  English  at  Frankfort.  At  the 
same  time  it  is  certain  that  the  measures  he  had  taken  to  settle 
the  Church  were  not  well  conceived.  The  discipline  he  had 
caused  to  be  drawn  up  proved  defective,  and  did  not  meet  all 
the  needs  of  the  case.  It  is  also  probable  that  by  excluding 
some  of  the  members  from  voting  in  the  election  of  the 
governors  of  the  Church,  he  had  left  many  of  its  members 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  they  had  been  unjustly  treated, 
and  imposed  upon. 

The  separatist  and  anti-sacerdotal  opinions  that  he  had 
come  to  stamp  out,  were  silenced  only  and  not  crushed,  and 
they  were  only  waiting  for  Cox's  departure  in  order  to  raise 
their  head  again. 

Cox  had  hardly  turned  his  back  when  the  Frankfort  con- 
gregation began  to  fall  out  with  their  pastor,  "Whitehead. 
The  latter  had  created  some  discontent  in  the  matter  of  the 
baptism    of    the    child    of    one    Kent,    a    member    of    the 


48  Resignation  of  Whitehead. 

congregation.    The  father  wished  the  ceremony  to  be  performed 
in  the  French  way,  but  Whitehead  absolutely  refused  to  do 
anything  unless  the  child  had  god-parents  given  to  it.     Here 
we  have  a  clear  case  of  revolt  against  the  provisions  of  the 
Anglican  Church.     Unfortunately  the  question  is  treated  very 
summarily  in  our  only  authority — the  "  Troubles  of  Frankfort  " 
— and  even  the  result  of  the  dispute  is  not  given.     Apparently, 
however,  Kent  had  many  sympathizers  in  the  congregation, 
while  the  pastor  seems  to  have  lost  all  influence,  at  least  if 
we   may  judge  from  what  followed  immediately  after.      It 
appears  that  Treherrn,  the  lecturer  in  Divinity,  fell  sick,  and 
was  for  a  time  unable  to  fulfil  his  duties.     Whitehead  con- 
fidently expected  to  be  appointed  to  supply  the  vacancy,  and 
he  was  consequently  much  chagrined  when  he  was  passed  over. 
In  a  pet,  he  resigned  his  pastorate,  feeling,  no  doubt,  perfectly 
sure  that  every  one  would  come  and  implore  him  to  take  it 
again,   and  with  it  the  lectureship  in   Divinity.     It  must, 
therefore,  have  been  a  most  disagreeable  surprise  to  him  when 
he  found  the  congregation  would  be  quite  contented  without 
him,  that  it  did  not  even  ask  him  to  reconsider  his  decision, 
but  proceeded  at  once  to  the  election  of  his  successor.     The 
dismayed  pastor  was  utterly  taken  aback  by  the  coldness  of  the 
congregation  towards  him.     Upset  by  the  absolute  failure  of 
his  coup,  he  now  endeavoured  to  recall  a  resignation  which  he 
had  never  seriously  intended.     But  it   was   too   late.     The 
congregation  may  have  been  amused  at  the  ridiculous  position 
Whitehead  had  put  himself  into  by  his  precipitate   action. 
They  had  no  mercy,  and  were  evidently  only  too  glad  to  take 
him  at  his  word.   On  the  1st  of  March,  1556,  they  elected  Robert 
Home,  one  of  those  who  had  come  with  Cox  to  Frankfort,  to 
take  his  place.    We  do  not  know  in  what  way  the  election  of 
Home  was  carried  out,  whether  he  was  elected  by  the  suffrage 
of  the  ordained  clergy 'only,  or  by  the  voice  of  the   whole 
congregation.     In  any  case  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
entirely  satisfactory.   Whitehead,  in  his  impotent  rage,  accused 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  49 

his  successor  of  having  intrigued  againsfc  him,  and  Home 
thought  it  necessary  to  clear  his  character  of  this  and  other 
aspersions  before  he  finally  consented  to  take  office. 

Such  are  the  few  facts  which  are  all  we  have  to  enlighten 
us  upon  this  obscure  matter.  They  seem  to  have  been  culled 
from  a  letter  of  Cole  written  to  Whittingham,  and  this  was 
probably  the  only  information  the  latter  had  on  the  matter 
when  he  wrote  his  "  Troubles  of  Frankfort."  It  is  regrettable 
that  this  is  so,  for  in  all  probability  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the 
incident  would  throw  considerable  light  on  subsequent  events. 
As  it  is,  however,  it  would  be  useless  to  waste  time  upon  what 
could  be  no  better  than  mere  guesswork. 

However  Home  may  have  obtained  his  election,  it  is  certain 
that  he  had  not  long  been  in  office  before  the  relations  between 
himself  and  the  congregation  had  become  strained.  If  he 
had  been  the  nominee  of  the  Church  he  was  far  from  being 
its  creature.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  a  domineering 
character,  fond  of  power  and  anxious  to  display  it,  traits  that 
illustrate  and  explain  most  of  what  follows.  Even  those 
associated  with  him  in  the  government  of  the  Church,  the 
elders  and  deacons  themselves  shared  the  unpopularity  of  their 
chief  and  colleague.  The  most  prominent  among  these  was 
Richard  Chambers,  who  has  been  already  mentioned  for  his 
liberality.  This,  however,  so  far  from  gaining  him  a  general 
popularity  rather  increased  the  odium  against  him.  In  his 
capacity  of  deacon  he  was  accused  of  making  an  unfair  dis- 
tribution of  the  funds  entrusted  to  him.  It  was  said  that  he 
particularly  favoured  some  of  his  friends,  while  he  left  others, 
not  so  devoted  to  himself,  entirely  unprovided,  all  without  any 
regard  for  the  real  needs  of  either  the  one  or  the  other.  Such 
accusations  received  some  colour  from  the  fact  that  Chambers 
absolutely  refused  to  give  any  account  either  of  the  money  he 
received  or  of  the  way  in  which  he  distributed  it,  so  that  there 
were  not  wanting  some  who  darkly  hinted  that  he  was  guilty 
of  peculation. 


50  The  Dispute  between  Home  and  Ashley. 

A  very  small  matter  sufficed  in  order  to  fan  this  smouldering 

discontent  into  a  flame.     At  supper-table  one  day,  about  the 

middle  of  January,  1557,  one  Ashley,  a  layman  of  good  position, 

became  engaged  in  a  somewhat  heated  argument  with  Home. 

The  matter,  however,  was  amicably  settled  immediately  after 

by  the  intervention  of  the  friends  of  both  parties,  and  nobody 

thought  any  more  about  it.     Here  the  question  would  have 

rested  in  merited  oblivion  had  it  not  been  for  the  officious  zeal 

of  the  elders,  who  persisted,  against  all  reason,  in  considering 

the  honour  of  their  body  to  be  called  in  question,  and  who 

decided  to  take  it  up.     Accordingly,  a  few  days  later,  Ashley 

received  a  summons  to  appear  before  this  body  to  answer  the 

charge  of  having  slandered  the  governors  of  the  Church.     On 

the  day  following  the  receipt    of  this  missive  Ashley  duly 

appeared  before  Home  and  his  colleagues  as  they  had  required 

him  to  do.     But  it  was  in  no  spirit  of  submission  that  he 

complied  with  their  demand.     He  did  not  come  to  be  judged, 

but  in   order  to  object  to  his  self-constituted  judges.     The 

pastors  and  elders  he  declared  were  moved  solely  by  private 

spite,  and  in  any  case  they  had  no  right  to  pass  sentence  in 

a  case  in  which  they  were  all  interested.     Upon  these  grounds 

he  refused  to  acknowledge  their  jurisdiction,  and  appealed  to 

the  congregation  to   decide  the  question.     Alarmed  at  the 

prospect  thus  threatened  of  a  quarrel  with  the  whole  body  of 

the  Church,  Home  endeavoured  to  dissuade  Ashley  from  his 

intention  by  threats.   If  he  persisted  in  his  appeal,  the  offended 

pastor  declared  that  he  would  have  recourse  to  the  aid  of  the 

magistrates.     Ashley,  nothing  daunted,  persisted  in  denying 

the  jurisdiction  of  his  accusers,  and  went  at  once  to  lay  the 

matter  before  the  congregation,  where  he  found  plenty  of 

sympathetic  listeners. 

If  Home  had  been  on  friendly  relations  with  his  Church, 
he  would  have  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  action  of  Ashley, 
although  he  might  have  considered  it  irregular.  As  it  was, 
however,  it  is  but  too  clear  that  the  pastor  felt  his  position  to 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  51 

be  insecure,  and  dreaded  exceedingly  the  struggle  which  he 
was  bound  to  consider  inevitable. 

The  eagerness  with  which  the  congregation  took  the  matter 
up,  proves,  as  clearly  as  anything  could  be  proved,  how  much 
Home  was  disliked.  The  petty  supper-table  squabble  alto- 
gether dwindles  in  proportion,  from  this  moment,  before  the 
larger  issues  now  raised.  It  was  no  longer  Ashley  and  the 
elders  who  found  themselves  face  to  face,  but  the  congregation 
and  its  governors,  determined  to  fight  out  to  the  bitter  end 
important  questions  of  principle. 

It  had  been  to  small  purpose  that  Cox  had  devoted  so  much 
energy  to  the  extirpation  of  anti-sacerdotal  ideas  at  Frankfort. 
In  this  winter  of  1557  they  reappeared  there  with  even  greater 
force  than  ever.  The  whole  of  the  coming  struggle  was  to 
rage  about  this  point.  If  the  priest  was  sacred,  if  he  belonged 
to  a  higher  and  a  privileged  class,  then  Home  was  in  the  right, 
and  was  perfectly  justified  in  his  intention  to  punish  Ashley 
for  having  slandered  him.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  pastor 
of  the  Church  was  spiritually  on  the  same  level  as  the  members 
of  his  congregation,  and  his  office  was  simply  conferred  upon 
him  on  account  of  some  special  fitness,  and  in  the  interests  of 
order,  then  the  members  of  the  Frankfort  Church  had  no  choice 
but  to  protest  against  one  of  their  number  being  judged  by  his 
accusers  as  a  proceeding  contrary  to  the  very  fundamental 
principles  of  jurisprudence. 

Such  were  the  questions  actually  at  stake,  and  though  it 
is  unlikely  that  they  presented  themselves  to  the  contending 
parties  in  this  light,  yet  they  form  the  real  basis  of  the  succeed- 
ing struggle. 

The  action  of  the  congregation  in  taking  up  the  case  of 
Ashley  not  only  changed  the  tribunal  and  the  questions  at 
stake,  but  also  the  relative  position  of  the  parties.  In  the  new 
posture  of  affairs  it  was  Home  who  was  the  defendant,  while 
Ashley  became  the  plaintiff,  while  the  former  in  his  turn  con- 
tested the  right  of  his  judges  to  try  his  cause.    The  leadership 


52  Appeal  to  the  Magistrates. 

of  the  congregation  party  was  undertaken  by  John  Hales,  a 
member  of  an  old  and  distinguished  Kentish  family.  Imme- 
diately after  Ashley  had  appealed  from  the  elders,  this  gentle- 
man, also  a  layman,  be  it  noted,  summoned  a  meeting  of  the 
Church  to  discuss  the  matter.  On  the  28th  of  January  this 
assembly  met,  and  Home  was  present  in  order  to  sustain  his 
cause.  Imitating  the  example  of  the  weaker  party  in  the 
previous  struggle,  he  endeavoured  to  support  his  threatened 
authority  on  a  decree  of  the  magistrates.  This  he  produced 
and  read,  adding  afterwards,  as  a  commentary,  that  such 
assemblies  as  Hales  had  summoned  were  very  prejudicial  to 
their  interests,  because  they  were  a  cause  of  offence  to  the 
magistrates,  who  might  possibly  drive  them  out  of  their  church, 
and  even  from  the  city.  Then,  taking  a  leaf  out  of  Cox's  book, 
he  turned  round  upon  his  opponents,  declared  that  Hales  had 
shown  himself  a  schismatic  by  his  action,  and  that  he  should 
be  dealt  with  as  such. 

If  Home  imagined  that  he  would  terrify  the  congregation, 
he  was  grievously  mistaken.  If  he  really  believed  he  could 
carry  out  his  threats  of  punishment,  he  had  overrated  his 
powers.  Outside  the  actual  governing  body  itself  he  had 
hardly  any  supporters,  and  the  history  of  the  previous  struggle 
should  have  taught  him  the  futility  of  endeavouring  to  bolster 
up  his  authority  by  a  decree  of  the  magistrates.  As  it  was,  his 
violent  action  only  precipitated  the  struggle,  and  added  to  it 
more  fierceness  and  bitterness. 

Contrary  to  Home's  hopes  and  expectations  the  congrega- 
tion was  frightened  neither  by  the  decree  of  the  magistrates, 
nor  by  the  threats  of  their  pastor.  They  felt  sure  they  could 
obtain  the  alteration  of  the  former,  while  they  could  afford  to 
laugh  at  the  impotence  of  the  latter.  The  day  following  the 
first  meeting  the  congregation  assembled  again,  so  little  did 
they  regard  the  decree  of  the  magistrates  as  serious.  Hales, 
who  had  been  prevented  by  indisposition  from  appearing  in  the 
church  on  the  previous  day,  now  came  in  order  to  clear  himself 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  53 

of  the  charge  of  schism.  Like  Ashley,  he  appealed  to  the 
judgment  of  the  congregation,  and  offered  at  once  to  leave  the 
city  if  they  considered  the  action  well  founded.  This  speech 
was  received  with  acclaim,  and  they  all  protested  that  they 
judged  Hales'  action  not  only  not  schismatical,  hut  most  meet 
and  proper  in  a  Christian  man.  Not  content  with  this,  they 
proceeded  to  pass  a  general  resolution  designed  to  meet  all 
similar  cases,  in  which  they  declared  that  similar  assemblies  in 
the  Church,  when  nothing  else  was  going  forward,  should  not 
be  esteemed  schismatic. 

War  was  now  declared  in  real  earnest.  Xot  only  had  the 
congregation  decided  to  take  up  the  cause  of  Ashley,  but  it 
had  already  judged  the  case  of  Hales.  It  had  even  done  more 
than  this  ;  for,  not  content  with  these  two  decisions  in  particular 
cases,  it  had  passed  a  general  resolution  not  only  without  the 
consent  of  the  pastor,  but  without  consulting  him,  and  in  his 
despite. 

Home  had  not  expected  so  decided  or  so  general  an 
opposition.  If  he  had  previously  been  conscious  of  his  un- 
popularity, he  had  never  dreamed  that  the  congregation  would 
go  to  such  extremes.  He  began  to  realize  that  he  had  acted 
rashly  and  unwisely,  and  would  probably  have  given  anything 
for  some  means  of  withdrawing  from  the  affair  without  loss  of 
dignity,  and  without  seeming  to  give  in.  But  to  surrender 
unconditionally  was  not  in  his  nature,  and  to  that  he  could  not 
bend  his  pride.  On  the  following  Sunday,  after  the  morning 
service,  Home,  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  the  elders,  asked 
pardon  for  all  private  offences.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
careful  to  show  that  he  had  not  abated  one  jot  of  his  pre- 
tentions, but  intimated  that  he  and  the  rest  of  the  governing 
body  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  of  judging  such  causes  as 
concerned  their  ministry. 

After  the  lengths  to  which  they  had  gone,  the  congregation 
did  not  intend  to  let  the  matter  be  smoothed  over  thus.  They 
could  not  accept  the  position  that  Home  had  laid  down,  and 


54  The  Congregation  persists. 

they  sturdily  replied  that  the  Church  reserved  to  itself  the 
public  causes  belonging  to  itself  and  in  the  interest  of  its 
liberty.  They  were,  moreover,  very  dissatisfied  with  the  state 
in  which  Home  had  left  the  Ashley  question. 

If  the  elders  still  wished  to  judge  him,  that  could  not  be 
tolerated,  for  from  the  congregation's  point  of  view,  that  would 
be  monstrously  unjust.  If  the  pastor  wished  to  slur  over  the 
matter,  that  seemed  little  better.  The  accusation  would  still 
remain  hanging  over  the  head  of  Ashley  to  his  prejudice  and 
the  destruction  of  all  comfortable  relations.  It  was  therefore 
imperative  that  the  case  should  be  judged,  and  if  Ashley  could 
not  be  convicted  he  should  be  triumphantly  acquitted.  The 
congregation  were  determined  that  their  governors  should  not 
escape  from  the  results  of  their  action. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  Sunday,  therefore,  another 
meeting  was  held  in  the  church,  with  the  permission  of  the 
pastor  and  elders.  Three  times  all  those  who  accused  Ashley 
were  desired  to  come  forward  and  lay  their  complaints  before 
the  congregation.  As  no  one  responded,  it  became  at  once 
apparent  that  none  but  Home  and  his  colleagues  had  any 
complaint  against  him.  From  this  the  congregation  judged 
that  the  rulers  were  more  than  ever  unfit  to  try  the  case,  and 
they  at  once  proceeded  to  carry  a  resolution,  designed  to  limit 
the  pretensions  of  the  elders  in  this  respect,  expressed  in  general 
terms,  so  that  it  could  be  applied  to  all  similar  cases. 

Home  and  his  associates  were  not  present  at  this  meeting, 
although  they  had  authorized  it.  When,  however,  they  heard 
of  what  had  been  done,  and  of  the  steps  taken  to  dispose  of 
their  claims,  they  at  once  resigned  their  offices  in  a  body,  giving 
as  a  reason  that  only  the  shadow  of  authority  was  left  them. 
Such  has  been  the  plea  of  tyrants  in  all  ages,  and  it  explains 
only  too  well  the  discontent  and  disaffection  of  the  congre- 
gation. From  this  time  forward  no  doubt  can  remain  about 
Home's  autocratic  behaviour,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  present 
struggle  was  a  revolt  against  it.     At  the  same  time  Home's 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  55 

resignation  was  not  given  in  good  faith,  as  is  clearly  proved  by 
his  subsequent  conduct.  By  this  means  the  pastor  hoped  to 
reduce  the  congregation  to  such  embarrassments  that  it  would 
abandon  all  its  positions  and  come  and  implore  his  pardon. 
With  the  example  of  Whitehead  before  his  eyes,  he  must  have 
known  the  dangers  of  such  a  course,  but  he  appears  to  have 
been  ready  to  risk  a  fiasco  on  the  chance  of  bringing  the  con- 
gregation on  its  knees. 

At  first  all  went  well  with  him.  His  opponents  had  not 
anticipated  such  a  step.  They  had  no  one  ready  to  fill  the 
vacant  places,  and  they  probably  did  not  regard  the  questions 
in  dispute  in  so  serious  a  light  as  Home  did.  They  therefore 
requested  their  pastor  very  earnestly  to  reconsider  his  decision, 
and  hoped  that  both  he  and  the  elders  would  remain.  This 
was  exactly  what  Home  wanted,  but  he  was  too  anxious  to 
press  his  advantage.  He  therefore  refused  to  take  up  office 
again,  unless  he  were  allowed  to  have  entirely  his  own  way. 
Apparently,  however,  the  congregation  did  not  take  his  refusal 
very  seriously,  and  the  following  Sunday  a  very  curious  scene 
occurred.  The  members  of  the  Church  assembled  as  usual  for 
divine  service ;  but  when  the  time  to  begin  the  service  had 
arrived  the  pulpit  remained  vacant,  and  the  congregation  could 
only  sit  still  in  astonishment.  Home  and  the  Elders  had  taken 
their  places  among  the  ordinary  members  of  the  Church,  and 
they  absolutely  refused  to  take  any  official  part  in  that  day's 
worship. 

Obviously  this  state  of  affairs  could  not  be  allowed  to  last, 
or  the  Church  would  become  the  laughing-stock  of  the  place, 
and  a  by-word  everywhere.  The  congregation  therefore  deter- 
mined to  arrange  some  modus  vivendi,  or  else  to  make  an  entire 
re-settlement  of  the  church.  Accordingly,  on  February  3rd,  a 
meeting  was  held  in  order  to  make  peace.  But  its  result  was 
only  fiercer  and  more  bitter  war.  Hostilities  began  when 
Home,  in  his  usual  autocratic  manner,  bade  one  of  the 
speakers  to  hold  his  peace.    Finding  that  he  was  not  obeyed,  the 


56  Home  inflexible. 

ex-pastor,  who  so  evidently  still  wanted  to  rule,  made  off  towards 
the  door,  with  the  intention  of  breaking  up  the  meeting. 
Finding,  however,  that  no  one  followed  him,  and  that  his 
attempt  would  prove  abortive,  he  returned  to  occupy  the 
pastor's  place  in  the  church.  Calling  the  elders  about  him,  he 
declared  that  he  had  only  resigned  personally,  but  if  the  con- 
gregation would  agree  to  obey  the  old  discipline,  they  would 
all  remain  in  office.  It  was  not  likely  that  the  congregation 
would  receive  this  advance  very  kindly,  for  it  simply  reduced 
them  to  the  status  quo  ante,  and  gave  no  guarantee  against  the 
recurrence  of  such  affairs  as  that  of  Ashley.  The  leaders  of 
the  Church  party  therefore  replied  that  they  could  not  accept 
such  terms,  because  they  made  no  provision  for  faults  in  the 
pastor.  In  Home's  eyes  the  office  of  pastor  was  sacred,  and 
its  holder  irresponsible  and  inviolable.  He  therefore  was  no 
more  ready  to  accept  the  advances  of  the  congregation  than 
they,,  had  been  to  accept  his.  Hard  pressed  as  he  was,  and 
hoping  to  dissolve  the  meeting,  he  made  two  more  strategic 
moves  towards  the  door,  only  to  return  each  time  on  finding 
that  he  was  not  followed.  Not  knowing  what  course  it  would 
be  best  for  him  to  pursue,  yet  determined  not  to  yield  one  iota 
of  his  principles,  he  finally  went  to  take  his  former  place  in  the 
pastor's  chair.  Here  his  opponents  clearly  demanded  that  he 
should  allow  the  congregation  to  judge  Ashley's  case.  Home 
flatly  refused,  but  offered,  together  with  the  elders,  to  draw  up  a 
new  discipline  for  the  Church.  The  congregation  could  not 
possibly  accept  this,  for  it  would  have  been  an  absolute  renun- 
ciation of  all  that  they  claimed,  and  considering  that  they  were 
in  revolt  against  the  excessive  claims  of  their  pastor  and  elders, 
it  seems  exceedingly  strange  that  Home  should  have  proposed 
that  the  latter  should  have  the  sole  right  of  judging  the 
questions  in  dispute.  It  was  simply  the  affair  of  Ashley 
repeated  on  a  larger  scale.  Home  altogether  refused  to  appre- 
ciate the  grounds  of  the  opposition,  while  the  latter  could  not 
accept  the  sacerdotal  ideas  of  their  pastor. 


TJie  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  57 

The  cause  of  the  elders  was  lost,  and  no  one  recognized  this 
so  clearly  as  Home  himself.  Complaining  of  cold,  he  dissolved 
the  assembly,  and  departed,  possibly  with  some  faint  hope  that 
the  others  would  follow.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  happened. 
Home  had  lost  the  last  remnants  of  his  influence.  The  events 
of  the  preceding  hours  had  taught  the  congregation  that  all 
accommodation  with  their  late  governors  on  a  tolerable  basis 
had  become  impossible,  and  they  now  only  thought  of  filling 
their  places,  and  of  re-settling  their  too  frequently  disturbed 
Church.  Accordingly,  immediately  after  the  departure  of 
Home,  they  set  to  work  upon  these  two  objects,  and  appointed 
two  commissions  of  eight  persons  each,  the  one  to  draw  up  a 
new  discipline  for  the  Church,  the  other  to  judge  Ashley.  In 
the  mean  time  they  took  steps  to  provide  for  the  carrying  on  of 
the  ministerial  and  university  functions  of  the  colony  that  had 
been  threatened  by  the  resignation  of  those  who  had  originally 
had  the  charge  of  them. 

Although  the  pastor  and  elders  had  retired  defeated,  it  was 
not  their  intention  to  abandon  the  struggle  so  easily.  If  he 
could  not  rule  the  congregation,  Home  was  at  least  determined 
to  embarrass  it  as  much  as  possible  in  its  difficult  task  of  recon- 
struction. By  keeping  the  quarrel  alive,  and  by  showing  an 
active  hostility,  he  hoped  that  in  the  end  the  victory  might 
rest  with  him,  after  all. 

In  this  unamiable  task,  Richard  Chambers  appears  as  his 
chief  assistant,  and  from  this  moment  the  two  are  associated 
together.  Alike  the  principal  objects  of  the  antipathy  of  the 
congregation,  they  united  to  repel  hatred  by  hatred.  In  every 
possible  way  they  exerted  themselves  to  upset  the  plans  of 
their  opponents.  Their  factious  spirit  appears  at  every  turn. 
They  objected,  as  on  principle,  to  everything  that  the  congre- 
gation did,  even  to  the  refilling  of  the  offices  that  they  had 
voluntarily  resigned.  They  absented  themselves  from  the 
English  Church,  and  attended  instead  the  services  of  the  French 
and  Germans,  and  they  succeeded  in  inducing  a  few  of  their 


58  A  New  Book  of  Discipline. 

countrymen,  and  they  must  have  been  very  few,  to  do  the  same 
thing.  But  with  these  and  other  means  they  had  but  one 
object  in  view,  one  they  never  lost  sight  of.  They  intended,  if 
it  were  possible,  to  recover  their  position  and  power,  and  for 
this  purpose  they  were  doing  their  utmost  to  secure  the  favour 
and  assistance  of  the  magistrates  of  the  town. 

In  the  mean  time,  in  spite  of  the  attacks  of  Home  and 
Chambers,  the  congregation  had  been  proceeding  successfully  with 
its  work.  On  the  14th  of  February  the  Committee  appointed 
to  revise  the  discipline  had  accomplished  their  task,  and  came 
to  present  the  results  of  their  labours  before  the  congregation. 
The  new  book,  thus  drawn  up,  may  be  called  the  Bill  of 
Rights  of  the  Frankfort  Church.  It  deals  with  every  one  of 
the  points  that  had  been  raised  in  the  late  dispute,  and  con- 
demns the  autocratic  principles  of  Home,  while  it  asserts  the 
liberties  of  the  congregation.  Accused  persons  were  to  be 
tried,  ordinarily  by  the  pastor  and  elders.  They  had  the  right, 
however,  to  object  to  any  one  of  their  judges.  In  such  a  contin- 
gency the  person  or  persons  to  whom  exception  was  taken  might 
not  sit.  Their  places  were  to  be  filled  by  election  by  the  con- 
gregation. In  case  the  pastor  and  elders  were  objected  to  as  a 
body,  the  whole  congregation  was  to  judge.  Unless  these 
arrangements  should  seem  to  give  too  much  license  to  offenders, 
the  most  severe  punishments  were  denounced  against  all  who 
should  appeal  factiously,  while  the  governing  body  always 
possessed  the  right  of  calling  in  the  aid  of  the  magistrates 
against  the  congregation.  Small  assemblies  for  private  contro- 
versy with  or  without  the  consent  of  the  pastor  were  perfectly 
regular. 

So  much  for  the  general  dispositions  more  particularly 
affecting  the  questions  in  dispute.  Further  measures  were 
inserted  to  regulate  the  responsibility  and  good  behaviour  of 
the  governing  body.  Two  ministers  were  to  be  appointed  to 
make  the  office  less  onerous,  and  to  act  as  a  check  upon  one 
another,  so  that  neither  could  become  too  domineering.     Of  the 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  59 

deacons,  it  was  ordained  that  they  should  be  persons  of  good 
position  and  estate,  and  every  month  they  would  be  required 
to  submit  their  accounts  to  an  audit  by  the  ministers  and 
seniors. 

Although  the  new  discipline  was  practically  a  condemnation 
of  the  courses  pursued  by  Home  and  Chambers,  it  cannot  be 
said  that  it  was  extreme  in  its  tendencies.  Indeed,  we  may 
rather  consider  it  as  surprisingly  moderate  under  the  circum- 
stances. Given  a  congregation  and  a  pastor  working  perfectly 
in  harmony  with  each  other,  there  is  nothing  to  say  against 
it,  and  under  contrary  conditions  it  would  not  have  been  less 
effective  than  any  other  arrangement.  Of  course  in  making 
this  judgment  I  have  regarded  the  matter  from  a  purely  secular 
point  of  view.  From  the  standpoint  of  Home  it  had  quite 
another  aspect,  and  appeared  as  nothing  less  than  a  revolt 
against  constituted  authority.  It  is  certainly  remarkable,  even 
when  we  take  into  consideration  the  peculiar  circumstances  of 
the  case,  to  find  a  congregation  claiming  for  itself  at  this 
early  date  such  extensive  powers,  nay,  the  chief  and  ultimate 
powers  in  the  Church.  The  Independents,  the  Congregationalists 
of  to-day,  have  found  in  Browne  and  Barrow  the  originators  of 
then',  sect.  But  the  claims  of  both  have  been  disputed.  Surely 
in  this  second  quarrel  at  Frankfort  we  have  something  extra- 
ordinarily like  the  peculiar  tenets  of  the  Independents,  and  if 
we  may  not  say  with  certitude  that  this  body  of  Noncon- 
formists actually  originated  at  Frankfort'at  this  time,  we  may 
notice  it  as  a  striking  evidence  of  the  floating  ideas,  opposed  to 
Anglicanism,  that  existed  at  this  time,  and  of  which  we  have 
already  recorded  another  notable  example. 

Another  remark  that  arises  likewise  from  this  struggle  is 
derived  from  the  fact  that  in  their  opposition  to  the  congrega- 
tion, Home  and  the  elders  practically  found  themselves  alone. 
Xow  we  know  that  Home  and  Chambers,  by  far  the  most  im- 
portant of  these,  had  both  come  with  Cox  to  Frankfort,  we 
know  with  what  purpose  and  result.     Of  the  others  we  cannot 


60  The  Magistrates  again  intervene. 

say  so  much,  because  there  remains  no  information  whatever 
about  them.  They  may  or  may  not  have  come  with  Cox's 
party.  In  any  case,  Home  and  Chambers  were  head  and 
shoulders  above  their  colleagues,  who  seem  simply  to  have 
followed  their  lead.  In  consideration  of  these  facts,  is  it  too 
much  to  say  that  the  rise  of  the  congregation  was  a  revolt 
against  the  whole  system  and  reform  of  Cox,  and  an  effort  to 
shake  off  the  rulers  whom  he  had  forced  upon  it  ?  It  is  impos- 
sible to  say.  In  the  absence  of  proof  this  theory,  in  spite  of 
the  support  of  much  plausibility,  must  remain  in  the  domain  of 
interesting  conjectures. 

In  the  new  discipline,  Home,  Chambers,  and  their  col- 
leagues saw  a  long  indictment  of  their  recent  action,  and  pro- 
bably of  the  whole  of  their  past  government  also.  On  the 
fundamental  question  about  the  authority  of  the  pastor,  the 
congregation  had  laid  down  its  position  very  clearly,  and  as  it 
was  the  exact  opposite  of  the  opinion  of  Home,  it  was  not 
likely  that  the  former  pastor  would  acquiesce.  He  was  the  less 
ready  to  do  so,  because  from  another  quarter  he  had  hopes  of 
even  yet  securing  the  victory.  He  had  at  last  induced  the 
magistrates  to  interfere.  The  city  functionaries,  in  this,  as  in 
the  preceding  struggle,  were  not  in  especial  sympathy  with 
either  of  the  parties.  The  questions  in  dispute  could  have  no 
interest  for  them,  even  if  they  had  understood  them,  but  it  is 
probable  that  they  did  not.  As  before,  they  acted  solely  in 
the  interests  of  peace  and  order,  desiring  as  far  as  possible  to 
re-establish  quiet  among  these  turbulent,  noisy,  and  quarrelsome 
Englishmen,  of  whom  by  this  time  they  must  have  conceived  an 
opinion  the  reverse  of  favourable.  It  was  therefore  with  this 
purpose  that  they  intervened  at  this  time,  and  bade  the  congre- 
gation take  back  its  officers,  at  the  same  moment  ordering  all 
those  who  considered  themselves  aggrieved  to  come  and  lay 
their  complaints  before  the  city  authorities.  The  congregation 
obeyed  these  commands,  though  it  must  have  been  distasteful 
to  them.     Difficulties,  however,  in  carrying  them  out  came  from 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  61 

the  other  side,  and  most  unexpectedly.  Home,  expecting  per- 
haps a  more  complete  victory  than  he  had  obtained,  agreed  to 
accept  his  office,  but  refused  to  preach  ;  or,  in  other  words,  he 
was  ready  to  take  the  direction  of  the  Church,  though  he  would 
not  fulfil  the  duties  that  were  involved.  Home  gained  nothing 
by  his  perversity,  and  lost  all  the  advantages  the  aid  of  the 
magistrates  might  have  brought  him.  The  congregation  mani- 
festly could  not  accept  him  on  the  terms  he  demanded,  and  so 
a  second  recourse  to  the  Frankfort  governors  became  necessary. 
The  obliging  functionaries  again  complied,  but  this  time  they 
had  been  approached  by  the  party  of  the  congregation,  and 
the  decision  was  less  favourable  to  the  late  governing  body. 
They  forbad  Home  and  Chambers  to  meddle  in  the  offices  until 
the  matters  in  dispute  had  been  settled.  They  empowered 
the  congregation  to  elect  new  officers,  but  advised  them  to 
draw  up  a  new  discipline  agreeable  to  all  parties,  before  pro- 
ceeding to  the  elections.  By  their  influence  and  persuasion,  they 
brought  about  a  nominal  reconciliation  between  the  parties,  and 
they  departed  in  the  hope  that  the  affairs  of  the  Church  had 
been  finally  arranged.  This,  however,  was  far  from  being  the 
case.  No  sooner  had  the  magistrates  turned  their  backs  than 
the  strife  began  again.  The  congregation  seems  to  have 
honestly  desired  to  arrange  some  modus  vivendi,  and  a  commis- 
sion of  fifteen  was  appointed  to  revise  the  discipline,  with 
Home  and  Chambers  among  the  number.  But  Home  was 
determined  to  treat  upon  no  terms  which  did  not  allow  him 
the  whole  of  the  powers  he  had  formerly  enjoyed.  He  and  his 
party  refused  to  take  any  part  in  the  formation  of  the  new 
book,  and  sat  sulkily  apart  from  the  others.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances it  is  not  surprising  that  the  new  Book  of  Discipline 
did  not  sensibly  differ  from  the  one  drawn  up  just  previously. 
No  approach  to  a  settlement  had  therefore  been  made,  for  while 
the  congregation  persistently  adhered  to  every  article  in  their 
book,  Home  objected  to  every  one  of  the  alterations  that  had 
been  made.     The  former  discipline,  he  declared,  was  quite  good 


62  Election  of  Officers. 

enough  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  Church,  and  ought  to  have 
been  more  carefully  considered  ere  it  was  so  lightly  rejected. 
He  thought  that  one  pastor  was  quite  sufficient,  for  two  would 
interfere  with  each  other,  and  this  might  lead  to  disputes.  He 
objected  to  the  articles  which  bore  more  directly  upon  the  case 
of  Ashley,  saying  as  before,  that  if  they  remained  in  force,  only 
the  shadow  of  authority  would  be  left  to  him.  Finally,  with 
regard  to  the  publication  of  accounts,  he  alleged  that  such 
publicity  would  expose  their  benefactors  in  England  to  the 
wrath  of  the  home  government. 

The  congregation,  which  could  rely  upon  the  neutrality,  if 
not  on  the  co-operation  of  the  Frankfort  authorities,  made  no 
concessions  whatever  to  Home,  and  on  the  20th  of  March,  after  a 
long  and  tedious  discussion,  they  submitted  their  new  Book  of 
Discipline  to  the  magistrates,  whose  approval  followed  almost 
as  a  matter  of  course.  Nothing  further  remained  to  be  done 
but  the  election  of  new  officers,  and  a  meeting  was  held  at  once 
for  this  purpose.  The  proceedings  were  not  destined  to  be 
altogether  undisturbed,  for  while  they  were  going  forward, 
Home  and  his  followers  tumultuously  entered  the  building, 
threw  a  quantity  of  papers  upon  the  communion  table,  and 
then  departed  as  suddenly  as  they  had  come.  The  papers, 
when  examined,  proved  to  contain  all  the  same  matter,  and 
this  was  to  the  effect  that  since  the  minority  objected  to  the 
new  Book  of  Discipline,  they  could  not  take  part  in  the  election. 
This  demonstration  had  no  effect  upon  the  members  of  the 
Church.  The  proceedings  were  carried  on  as  they  had  been 
begun,  and  the  appointment  of  the  ministers  and  officers  was 
completed.  Of  the  late  governing  body,  only  one  was  re-elected, 
Willi ord  by  name,  who  is  mentioned  here  for  the  first  time,  and 
who  probably  had  taken  no  active  part  in  the  late  dissensions. 
This  result  was  probably  due  chiefly  to  a  declaration  previously 
made  by  the  late  minister  and  elders,  that  they  would  not  serve 
even  if  they  were  reappointed.  Quite  apart  from  this,  however, 
the  choice  of  the  congregation  was  perfectly  rational.    It  would 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  63 

have  been  manifestly  absurd  to  have  appointed  their  former 
leaders  to  administer  a  discipline  of  which  they  disapproved. 
Besides,  the  congregation  had  by  this  time  come  to  recognize 
that  all  accommodation  with  Home  had  become  impossible, 
and  it  was  therefore  the  right  course  to  take,  to  clearly  define 
their  position. 

But  still  the  strife  dragged  on.  Home  wrould  not  acknow- 
ledge himself  beaten,  and  continued  to  annoy  and  harass  the 
congregation  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  although  •  he  could 
hardly  have  entertained  any  further  hopes  of  success.  For  the 
third  time  in  the  history  of  this  quarrel,  the  magistrates  felt 
compelled  to  interfere  in  the  interests  of  peace  and  order. 
With  the  hope  of  putting  an  end  to  this  interminable  contest, 
they  proposed  an  arbitration,  and  wrote  to  Cox,  Sandy,  and 
Bartue,  asking  them  to  come  and  decide  upon  the  merits  of  the 
contending  parties.  Of  these  men,  the  congregation  might 
well  have  dreaded  the  influence  of  Cox ;  but  so  anxious  were 
they  for  the  settlement  of  the  dispute  that  they  willingly  con- 
sented to  this  means  of  terminating  it.  Home,  however, 
objected.  He  started  from  the  position  that  he  was  in  the 
right,  and  that  reason  had  been  on  his  side  all  through.  From 
this  standpoint  he  refused  to  move,  and,  of  course,  he  con- 
sidered all  arbitration  to  be  superfluous.  The  only  conditions 
upon  which  he  would  consent  to  treat  with  his  adversaries  were 
of  the  most  monstrous  and  exorbitant  nature.  He  demanded 
nothing  less  than  that  he  and  his  colleagues  should  be  reinstated 
in  those  offices  which  they  had  not  only  voluntarily  resigned, 
but  which  they  had  definitely  refused  to  accept  again.  As  for 
an  arbitration,  he  could  only  consent  to  that  if  it  was  to  affect 
all  the  points  in  dispute,  and,  pending  the  decision  of  the 
arbitrators,  the  late  elections  and  the  new  discipline  were  to  be 
suspended.  It  was  as  if  a  hostile  general  had  refused  to  treat 
unless  his  enemy  previously  delivered  into  his  hand  all  their 
fortresses.  Such  terms  could  only  be  accepted,  or  even  thought 
of,  after  a  crushing  defeat ;   whereas,  on  the  contrary,  the 


64  Conduct  of  Home  and  Chambers. 

congregation  had  been  triumphantly  victorious  all  along  the  line. 
They  therefore  refused  to  allow  the  whole  action  and  energy  of 
their  Church  to  be  paralyzed  in  this  manner,  and  so  this  final 
attempt  at  an  accommodation  fell  to  the  ground  as  the  others 
had  done  before  it. 

Since  Home  and  his  party  refused  to  sign  the  new  dis- 
cipline, and  as  their  number  was  too  inconsiderable  to  allow 
them  to  form  a  Church  of  their  own,  nothing  further  remained 
for  them  to  do  than  to  depart  from  Frankfort.  They  accord- 
ingly departed  to  Strasburg,  to  a  more  congenial  atmosphere, 
where  they  announced,  with  grievous  tones,  that  the  Church 
they  had  abandoned  was  all  but  ruined.  This,  however,  cannot 
have  been  the  case  ;  and,  for  the  first  time  since  its  foundation, 
the  Church  at  Frankfort  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  the  peace 
and  quiet  that  had  so  long  been  denied  to  it. 

In  the  whole  of  the  struggle  just  described  the  conduct  of 
Home  can  only  be  justified  upon  the  supposition  that  he  held 
highly  sacerdotal  ideas  on  the  position  of  the  pastor  of  the 
Church.  Judged  from  any  other  standpoint,  his  conduct  appears 
in  anything  but  an  admirable  light.  From  the  first  he  clung 
tenaciously  to  every  atom  of  his  authority,  of  whose  limits 
he  had  extraordinarily  enlarged  ideas.  He  hoped  to  submit 
the  whole  congregation,  against  its  will,  to  the  caprice  of 
himself  and  a  few  colleagues,  who  on  the  most  critical  occasions 
could  not  muster  more  than  twelve  votes  in  the  whole  Church. 
Defeated  in  this  intention  and  disappointed  of  the  assistance  of 
the  magistrates,  he  still  continued  to  annoy  the  congregation  to 
the  best  of  his  ability,  from  a  spirit  of  mere  factiousness. 
Finally,  he  gratuitously  threw  away  an  excellent  opportunity  of 
recovering  his  position  and  the  greater  part  of  his  authority 
by  refusing  to  accept  arbitration,  except  upon  impossible 
conditions. 

The  conduct  of  Chambers,  as  well  as  that  of  Home,  serves 
to  show  in  what  manner  the  government  of  the  Frankfort 
Church  had  been  carried  on  after  the  reforms  of  Cox.     This 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  65 

man,  as  we  have  said,  absolutely  refused  to  render  any  account 
of  the  money  he  received  to  be  dispensed  in  charity,  or  of  the 
use  he  made  of  it.  The  only  reason  he  gave  for  this  very 
indefensible  proceeding  was  that  the  publicity  of  the  accounts 
would  expose  their  benefactors  in  England  to  the  vengeance  of 
the  Government.  Nothing  could  well  be  more  trivial  than  this 
excuse.  All  the  Frankfort  congregation  demanded  was  a 
monthly  audit  by  the  ministers  and  seniors  only.  Obviously 
there  was  not  the  slightest  reason  to  suppose  that  the  secret 
would  leak  out  in  this  manner,  particularly  when  all  the 
persons  concerned  were  so  interested  in  keeping  it.  The 
action  of  Chambers  in  this  manner  only  gave  too  much  colour 
to  the  charges  of  peculation  whispered  against  him ;  charges, 
be  it  noted,  which  he  did  not  much  exert  himself  to  refute. 
For  my  own  part,  however,  I  prefer  to  believe  in  his  innocence, 
and  to  regard  his  conduct  as  part  and  parcel  of  the  autocratic 
system  of  Home,  and  to  attribute  his  refusal  to  an  arrogance 
which  haughtily  repelled  any  attempt  to  limit  or  to  control  his 
authority. 

.  The  Frankfort  Church  was  not  destined  to  enjoy  for  any 
considerable  time  its  long-deferred  tranquillity.  The  fresh 
cause  of  disturbance  was  of  quite  another  character  to  those 
which  had  previously  troubled  its  peace.  The  death  of  Queen 
Mary  had  been  long  and  eagerly  awaited  by  the  English  exiles. 
Various  false  rumours  of  the  event  had  already  arrived,  only  to 
be  speedily  contradicted.  At  last,  late  in  November,  1558, 
news  came  to  Strasburg,  upon  whose  accuracy  there  could  no 
longer  be  any  doubt.  The  bigoted  persecutor  was  dead,  and 
with  her  the  reign  of  the  Spaniards  and  Papists  in  England 
ended.  Elizabeth,  who  had  long  been  the  hope  of  the  Pro- 
testants— the  offspring  of  Henry  VIII.  and  of  Anne  Boleyn — 
reigned  in  her  stead. 

We  may  judge  with  what  joy  these  tidings  were  received* 
and  the  men  of  Strasburg  hastened  to  share  with  their  country- 
men in  the  other  cities  the  long-hoped-for  intelligence.     As  was 

F 


66  KetJie's  Mission. 

natural,  they  sent  first  to  the  kindred  Church  at  Z  urich,  whence 
the  news  passed  on  to  Geneva,  and  thus  all  the  Churches  were 
informed  in  turn.  In  the  first  burst  of  joy  and  hope,  none 
thought  of  anything  but  as  speedy  a  return  as  possible  to  that 
beloved  native  land,  which  they  had  not  been  allowed  to  see 
for  so  long.  The  most  impatient  set  out  at  once,  and,  in  spite 
of  the  severities  of  an  unusually  hard  winter,  overcame  all  the 
difficulties  on  the  way  to  their  goal.  Others,  however,  more 
cautious,  and  less  confident  in  the  Protestantism  of  Elizabeth, 
delayed  their  departure  until  they  had  received  further  evidence 
of  the  intentions  of  the  new  queen  in  matters  of  religion. 
Others  were  still  engaged  in  important  works  which  they  did 
not  wish  to  leave,  or  had  contracted  ties  which  did  not  permit 
them  to  depart  so  suddenly. 

Amongst  those  who  thus  remained  behind  an  earnest  desire 
was  expressed  to  take  some  steps  to  heal  those  dissensions  that 
had  been  only  too  frequent  and  bitter  among  them,  in  order 
that  when  they  returned  to  England  they  might  not  import 
these  unhappy  quarrels  to  their  native  country  to  take  root 
there.  By  the  progress  of  the  quarrels  that  had  taken  place 
the  Churches  of  the  English  abroad  had  been  divided  roughly 
into  two  groups,  of  which  one  included  Zurich  and  Strasburg, 
and  held  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Edwardian  Prayer- 
book  ;  whilst  to  the  other  belonged  Geneva,  Basle,  and  Arau. 
Frankfort  had  been  the  common  battle-ground  of  both  parties, 
and  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  with  which  of  the  two  groups 
it  may  be  classed,  although,  to  judge  from  the  results  of  the 
quarrel  between  Home  and  Ashley,  we  may  rather  place  it  with 
the  latter. 

With  the  laudable  purpose  of  uniting  these  groups  by 
brotherly  love,  William  Kethe  was  charged  to  visit  the  various 
churches,  armed  with  a  circular  letter  inviting  them  all  to  a 
general  sentiment  of  concord.  Unfortunately  this  mission 
was  destined  to  prove  abortive.  Wherever  Kethe  went  he 
found  when  he  arrived  that  the  large  majority  of  his  country- 


The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.  67 

men  had  already  departed.  The  quarrels  that  had  saddened 
the  days  of  exile  were,  after  all,  to  be  transplanted  to  England, 
where  they  were  destined  to  flourish  and  bring  forth  their 
baneful  fruit.  In  any  case  it  is  not  likely  that  the  mission  of 
Kethe  would  have  been  successful  even  under  the  most  favour- 
able circumstances,  for,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  principles 
upon  which  the  contending  parties  differed  were  too  funda- 
mentally opposed  to  be  easily  reconciled.  But,  after  all,  both 
Anglican  and  Puritan  played  a  great  part  in  the  history  of  the 
nation,  and  by  their  very  strife  added  to  its  greatness.  Schism 
itself  is  not  an  immixed  evil ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  a  symptom 
of  active  pulsating  life,  and  of  the  seven  Churches  of  the 
Apocalypse  the  only  two  that  were  not  tainted  with  it  were 
Laodicea  the  lukewarm,  and  the  dead  Sardis. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  EXILES  IN  FKANCE. 

As  the  year  1553  advanced,  Englishmen  began  to  realize  that 
their  young  king,  upon  whose  good  dispositions  they  had 
founded  such  high  hopes,  was  gradually  dying,  and  in  a  short 
time  would  have  ceased  to  reign.  His  successor  would  in  all 
probability  be  his  elder  sister,  and  for  the  first  time  in  its 
history,  if  we  may  except  the  brief  rule  of  Matilda,  this 
country  would  be  under  the  nominal  government  of  a  woman. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  it  occurred  to  no  one  to  dispute 
the  right  of  a  woman  as  such  to  reign,  and  even  Northumber- 
land chose  his  pretender  from  the  gentler  sex.  None  the  less, 
however,  was  the  situation  regarded  as  a  dangerous  one.  If  a 
queen  succeeded  the  childless  Edward,  her  subjects  would  be 
anxious  for  her  to  marry  in  order  to  secure  the  succession  of 
the  throne,  and  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  civil  war.  But  if  the 
queen  married,  her  husband,  as  belonging  to  the  ruling  sex, 
would  undoubtedly  exercise  the  royal  power  in  her  name,  and 
much,  therefore,  depended  upon  the  man  she  might  choose  for 
her  spouse. 

When  Mary  ascended  the  throne,  this  question  was  already 
eagerly  debated,  and  it  was  not  long  before  she  was  pressed  to 
make  a  plain  d  eclaration  on  the  subject,  while  the  same  matter 
was  brought  prominently  forward  by  her  first  Parliament.  The 
whole  people  united  in  the  desire  that  the  queen  should  marry 
an  Englishman,  and  they  even  designated  the  one  to  be  selected. 


The  Exiles  in  France,  6g 

The  young  Courtenay,  Earl  of  Devon,  seemed  the  only  English 
noble  worthy  by  his  origin  and  position  of  this  great  honour. 
If  the  queen  would  not  marry  a  subject  she  would  do  better 
to  remain  unwed.  Nothing  could  be  more  baneful  for  the 
true  interests  of  the  country  than  an  alliance  with  a  foreign 
prince.  Hitherto  England  had  derived  her  strength  and  security 
from  her  independent  position  as  arbiter  between  France  and 
Spain,  but  this  advantage  would  at  once  cease  with  a  marriage 
alliance  with  either  of  these  powers,  who  in  wealth,  resources, 
and  military  force  were  far  superior  to  the  England  of  that 
day,  and  who  would  undoubtedly  exhaust  the  treasures  of  this 
country  in  men  and  money  upon  their  own  quarrels.  It  was, 
therefore,  with  the  gravest  dissatisfaction  that  Englishmen 
learned  that  their  new  sovereign  had  repulsed  the  petition 
of  their  Commons,  haughtily  bidding  them  to  mind  their  own 
business,  and  asserting  that  a  prince  had  at  least  as  much  right 
as  a  private  individual  to  marry  the  person  who  pleased  him 
most.  The  disquiet  and  discontent  of  Englishmen  was  so 
much  the  greater  since  it  was  known  that  the  queen's  inclina- 
tion leaned  towards  Philip  of  Spain.  The  gravest  fears  were 
entertained.  With  the  example  of  the  Low  Countries  before 
their  eyes,  provinces  whose  liberty  had  been  bartered  away 
simply  by  marriage  alliances,  patriotic  Englishmen  could 
not  but  dread  lest  they,  like  the  brave  Netherlander,  should 
sink  to  be  the  slaves  of  despotic  and  all-grasping  Spain. 

Across  the  water  the  progress  of  events  in  England  was 
keenly  watched.  In  their  desperate  struggle  against  the 
Hapsburgs  the  balance  of  power  was  already  too  far  turned 
against  the  French  to  allow  them  to  permit  Spain  to  add 
England  to  her  dominions  without  an  effort  to  prevent  the 
catastrophe.  They  thought  that  Charles  Y.  had  designs  upon 
Calais,  and  that,  once  in  possession  of  this  all-important  post, 
he  would  quell  the  discontented  English,  and  then  begin  the 
invasion  of  France.  Moved  by  these  fears  and  doubts,  they 
were  determined,  as  far  as  possible,  to  do  their  utmost  to 


JO  The  Policy  of  France. 

prevent  the  union  of  Philip  and  Mary.  The  existence  of 
discontent  in  England  upon  the  subject  was  well  known  in 
France,  a  nd  the  French  diplomatists  at  once  took  steps  to  gain 
some  advantage  from  this  feeling.  In  September,  1553,  De 
Selva,  the  French  envoy  at  Venice,  wrote  to  the  Constable  of 
France  advising  him  to  do  his  utmost  to  stir  up  and  keep  alive 
the  discontent  in  England,  and  to  encourage  the  claims  of 
Courtenay.  If,  however,  as  seemed  most  probable,  the  queen 
refused  to  marry  a  subject,  he  considered  it  would  be  necessary 
to  resist  her  intention  of  marrying  Philip  by  force.  In  another 
letter  to  the  king  the  same  diplomat  urged  the  importance  of 
giving  a  chief  to  the  malcontents,  for  otherwise  the  proposed 
revolt  would  probably  be  a  mere  fire  of  straw — a  great  blaze 
all  over  in  a  minute,  and  then  completely  extinguished.  The 
chief  suggested  was  of  coursei  none  other  than  Courtenay,  the 
king  already  designated  by  the  choice  of  the  English  them- 
selves. By  pressing  the  candidature  of  the  Earl  of  Devon, 
Henry  II.  not  only  hoped  to  frustrate  the  ambition  of  the 
emperor,  but  also  to  bind  Courtenay  to  himself  by  a  debt  of 
gratitude. 

The  efforts  of  French  diplomacy,  the  obstinacy  of  the 
queen,  and  the  apprehension  of  the  people  combined  to  produce 
the  rebellion  in  England  that  had  been  feared  and  anticipated. 
The  men  of  Kent  rallied  in  great  numbers  round  Sir  Thomas 
Wyatt.  In  the  west  also  the  standard  of  insurrection  was 
raised,  from  all  parts  indeed  came  additional  insurgents.  On 
the  other  hand,  Mary  had  hardly  any  one  on  whom  she  could 
rely  ;  all  alike  feared  the  Spanish  match,  and  those  who  had 
not  resolved  to  rise  against  it  had  at  least  refused  to  take  up 
arms  in  its  defence.  The  Londoners  themselves,  in  whose 
midst  the  queen  was  then  residing,  were  of  very  uncertain 
temper,  and  quite  as  ready  to  join  Wyatt  as  not. 

The  situation  indeed  seemed  critical,  if  not  desperate.  A 
less  determined  and  courageous  sovereign  would  have  fled  in 
dismay,  leaving  the  field  to  the  conqueror.    The  true  Tudor 


The  Exiles  in  France.  yi 

blood,  however,  flowed  in  Mary's  veins,  and  this  was  one  of 
the  rare  occasions  in  her  sad  reign  when  she  proved  herself  the 
veritable  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.  She  began  by  clapping 
into  prison  both  Conrtenay  and  Elizabeth,  thus  depriving  the 
rebels  of  the  chief  De  Selva  had  judged  so  essential  to  them. 
To  the  wavering  Londoners  the  queen  made  a  reassuring 
declaration  on  the  subject  of  her  marriage.  Summoning  the 
Corporation  of  the  City,  she  assured  them  that  she  would 
marry  no  one  but  by  the  consent  of  Parliament,  and  that  if 
that  body  objected  to  the  alliance  with  Philip  II.  she  would 
consent  to  remain  single.  This  statement  at  once  rallied  the 
Londoners  to  the  queen's  side.  The  old  loyalty  asserted 
itself  with  even  greater  force  than  ever ;  indeed,  it  had  only 
been  obscured  for  the  moment  by  a  still  stronger  feeling  of 
patriotism.  Wyatt's  career  of  success  suddenly  terminated. 
At  the  very  moment  when  he  seemed  about  to  attain  his 
desires,  he  found  himself  in  the  middle  of  the  capital,  deserted 
by  his  followers,  and  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

As  the  French  ambassador  had  anticipated,  the  affair  had 
proved  to  be  a  mere  fire  of  straw,  a  miserable  fiasco,  which  for 
the  moment  at  least  had  left  the  queen  more  popular  than  she 
had  ever  been  before. 

The  queen  had  not,  however,  triumphed  over  her  difficulties 
so  completely  as  it  appeared.  The  rebellion  of  Wyatt  had 
only  failed  because  it  was  premature.  Xo  public  steps  having 
been  taken  to  carry  out  the  marriage  with  Philip,  the  queen 
was  left  perfectly  free  to  soothe  the  Londoners  with  fair 
promises,  engagements  which  would  serve  the  turn  at  such  an 
emergency,  but  which  nothing  but  honour  bound  her  to  keep. 
The  antipathy  to  the  Spanish  match  remained  just  as  keen  as 
ever,  and  certainly  nothing  but  Mary's  assurances  would  have 
induced  the  Londoners  to  frustrate  TTyatt  in  his  attempt  to 
break  it  off. 

The  chief  of  the  rebels  in  the  West,  who  rose  at  the  same 
time,  and  with  the  same  purpose  as  Wyatt,  was  one  Sir  Peter 


7  2  Sir  Peter  Carew. 

Carew,  a  Devonshire  gentleman,  who  in  the  last  reign  had 
distinguished  himself  for  his  militant  Protestantism  in  a 
Catholic  county,  and  who  had  also  taken  an  important  part  in 
a  naval  action  against  the  French  fleet. 

Both  Carew  himself  and  his  biographer  have  resolutely  and 
repeatedly  denied  his  treason  both  on  this  and  on  subsequent 
occasions.  The  balance  of  evidence,  however,  seems  so  strong 
on  the  other  side,  that  we  are  forced  to  doubt  the  genuineness 
of  such  interested  declarations.  We  are  permitted  to  believe 
at  the  same  time  that  his  treason  was  of  a  very  modified  type. 
He  was  and  remained  a  loyal  Englishman  to  the  core.  Mary 
might  command  his  most  implicit  devotion  and  obedience  if  she 
would  only  marry  Courtenay,  or  remain  single.  But  the 
Spanish  match  he  regarded  as  a  most  dangerous  and  destructive 
step  towards  the  suppression  of  the  liberties  and  individuality 
of  the  nation,  and  it  was  against  this  that  he  revolted. 

More  fortunate  than  his  fellow-conspirator  Wyatt,  Sir 
Peter,  discovering  that  the  game  was  lost,  made  good  his 
escape  from  the  country.  Having  written  to  a  member  of  the 
Council  that  he  knew  a  king  who  would  treat  him  better  than 
the  queen,  he  crossed  over  to  France,  and  landed  on  the  coast 
of  Normandy.  Thence  he  was  conducted  to  the  French  court, 
and  the  same  night  had  a  secret  interview  with  the  King  of 
France.  In  the  first  blush  of  his  hate  against  the  Spaniards, 
and  the  proposed  Spanish  match,  Carew's  first  plan  seems  to 
have  been  to  return  to  Devonshire,  and  with  the  aid  ofv  French 
troops  again  to  raise  the  standard  of  revolt  there,  and  by  that 
means  prevent  the  landing  of  the  infant  Philip. 

Henry  II.  of  France,  in  the  midst  of  his  embarrassments, 
was  glad  to  welcome  offers  of  assistance  from  whatever  quarter 
they  might  come.  In  Carew  he  saw  the  representative  of  the 
anti-Spanish  feeling  in  England,  a  sentiment  which,  if  not 
directly  friendly  towards  France,  at  least  promised  to  relieve 
that  country  from  the  menace  of  an  additional  enemy.  The 
king,  therefore,   forgetting  Carew's  former  deeds  of  prowess 


The  Exiles  in  France.  73 

against  the  French  arms,  extended  to  the  refugee  the  warmest 
and  most  cordial  welcome.  Not  only  had  he  at  once  granted 
Carew  an  interview  upon  his  arrival,  but  he  loaded  him  with 
caresses  and  favours.  He  exempted  him  from  the  aubaine,  or  tax 
upon  foreigners,  and  made  him  free  of  the  whole  kingdom  of 
France,  provided  he  did  no  harm  to  French  subjects.  He 
placed  a  gold  chain  about  his  neck,  gave  him  money  for  his 
necessities,  offered  him  two  ships  of  the  royal  navy,  one  of 
which  was  of  the  first  class,  together  with  the  assistance  of  four 
privateers. 

But  however  anxious  Henry  might  be  to  avail  himself  of 
the  assistance  of  the  English  exiles,  the  subject  was  one  that 
required  careful  and  delicate  handling.  It  was  the  rule  of  the 
foreigner  that  the  English  objected  to,  and  it  was  only  the 
accident  of  the  queen  having  chosen  a  Spaniard  as  her  husband 
that  directed  the  animosity  of  her  subjects  chiefly  against  that 
nation.  The  English  were  not  disposed  to  brook  French  inter- 
ference in  their  affairs,  and  they  would  have  resented  such 
interference  with  as  much  energy  as  they  used  to  cry  out 
against  the  Spanish  marriage.  Moreover,  France  and  England 
at  that  moment  were  friendly  powers,  and  the  last  thing  Henry 
wished  to  do  was  to  offend  Queen  Mary.  Open  assistance  to 
the  rebels  would  have  given  the  queen  the  opportunity  to  rouse 
the  spirit  of  the  country,  so  jealous  was  it  of  foreign  interfer- 
ence, and  thus  enable  her  to  carry  through  the  negotiations 
for  the  Spanish  marriage  with  facility  and  quickness.  This 
was  the  last  thing  King  Henry  desired.  Dr.  Wotton,  the 
English  ambassador  at  the  French  Court,  had  already  had  his 
suspicions  aroused.  Acting  on  the  information  he  sent  home, 
Mary  loudly  and  indignantly  demanded  the  extradition  of  the 
rebels,  and  declared  that  this  was  due  to  her  according  to  the 
terms  of  a  recent  treaty,  and  was  only  to  be  expected  from  a 
power  that  professed  to  be  friendly.  In  reply,  Henry  protested 
his  friendliness  ;  as  for  the  rebels,  he  had  heard  nothing  about 
them,  his  dominions  were  so  large  that  he  could  not  possibly 


74  The  Exiles  at  Rouen. 

take  account  of  all  who  entered  or  went  out  of  them.  While 
he  thus  endeavoured  to  allay  the  suspicions  of  the  queen,  he 
judged  it  expedient  to  send  Carew  and  the  rest  of  the  English 
who  had  gathered  round  him  to  Rouen,  where  he  hoped  they 
would  escape  the  keen  observation  of  the  English  envoy. 

At  Rouen  Carew  seems  to  have  been  looked  upon  as  the 
chief  of  the  little  knot  of  Englishmen  who  were  there  with  him. 
The  families  and  influence  there  represented  were  of  no  mean 
order.  Side  by  side  with  Carew  was  Sir  William  Pickering, 
who  had  been  until  quite  recently  English  ambassador  at  the 
French  court,  and  who  had  probably  joined  the  malcontents 
out  of  pique  at  his  revocation.  Among  the  other  families 
represented  were  the  Staffords,  Tremaynes,  Killigrews,  and 
Fitz williams.  All  alike  breathed  the  deepest  hatred  to  Spain, 
and  determination  to  do  their  utmost  to  prevent  the  proposed 
marriage.  In  the  city  that  held  the  ashes  of  William  the 
Conqueror,  Carew,  inspired  by  his  surroundings,  is  reported  to 
have  thus  addressed  his  countrymen  :  "  Are  we  not  allianced 
with  Normandy  !  What  ancient  house  is  either  there  or  in 
France,  but  we  claim  by  them  and  they  by  us  ?  Why,  then, 
should  we  not  rather  embrace  their  loves,  than  submit  ourselves 
to  the  servitude  of  Spain  ?  " 

But  although  Carew  was  ready  to  take  advantage  of  the 
friendship  of  France,  he  did  not  wish  that  country  actively  to 
interfere  in  English  affairs.  The  plan  of  a  descent  upon 
Devonshire  was  definitely  abandoned,  and  another  mode  of 
offence  was  adopted.  The  object  the  conspirators  had  set 
before  themselves  was  to  prevent  the  landing  of  Philip  in 
England  ;  they  now  hoped  to  make  the  Channel  unsafe  for  his 
fleet  by  securing  the  command  of  it,  and  so  make  it  impossible 
for  the  Infant  to  cross  from  one  country  to  the  other.  Their 
means  were  slender,  but  with  the  assistance  of  the  French  king, 
they  might  hope  to  succeed  in  their  designs.  Henry  had  fitted 
out  two  hundred  sail,  and  it  was  currently  reported  that  he 
meant  to  put  them  under  the  command  and  at  the  disposition 


The  Exiles  in  France.  7$ 

of  the  Englishmen.  In  the  mean  time  the  Killigrews  put  to 
sea  with  three  ships,  giving  out  that  they  were  in  the  service  of 
the  French  Crown.  Perhaps  they  began  at  this  moment  those 
freebooting  raids  on  Spanish  ships  of  which  we  shall  speak  more 
fully  later  on. 

The  threats  and  preparations  of  the  exiles  created  the 
greatest  alarm  at  the  English  court.  It  was  currently  believed 
that  the  whole  force  of  the  French  navy  would  be  employed  by 
the  rebels,  in  order  to  prevent  Philip  from  making  the  voyage  to 
England.  To  protect  the  Spanish  prince,  it  was  thought  neces- 
sary to  equip  almost  the  whole  navy  to  go  to  meet  him,  while 
the  Spaniards  on  their  side  made  similar  elaborate  preparations. 

The  fear  and  alarm  excited  by  the  small  band  of  refugees 
could  not  fail  to  have  other  effects.  The  report  of  their  plans 
and  their  actions  excited  emulation  as  well  as  dread.  They 
were  surrounded  by  the  glamour  of  romance.  They  appeared 
as  the  champions  of  right  against  wrong  ;  the  friends  and 
upholders  of  religious  and  political  liberty,  as  opposed  to 
Spanish  despotism  and  bigotry.  The  fiery,  impetuous,  noble 
youth  of  England  longed  to  be  where  they  were,  fighting  their 
battle.  If  their  queen  would  not  gratify  their  wishes,  and 
exert  the  power  of  England  against  the  threatening  ascendency 
of  the  Hapsburgs,  they  hoped  as  volunteers  to  serve  on  the 
French  side  against  the  common  enemy.  They  wished  to  do  so 
before  the  fatal  marriage  had  been  irrevocably  concluded.  So 
far  were  they  from  having  any  disloyal  idea  in  their  action, 
that  one  actually  asked  permission  of  Paget  to  serve  in  this 
way,  while  the  son  of  Bedford,  the  Lord  Privy  Seal,  was 
among  the  number. 

The  Court,  indeed,  looked  upon  this  movement  as  a  revolt, 
and  would  grant  no  such  request.  Nevertheless  the  emigration 
of  the  young  English  nobility  continued.  On  the  13th  of 
April,  1554,  the  Ambassador  Xoailles wrote  to  D'Oysel,  "Every 
day  a  large  number  of  these  nobles  cross  to  France,  and  it  seems 
as  if  the  half  of  her  (Mary's)  kingdom  is  tremulous  to  go  there, 


76  Misery  of  the  Exiles. 

the  only  difficulty  being  to  find  a  safe  passage."  Thanks  to 
this  emigration,  the  French  armies  gained  some  valuable 
recruits.  Current  reports  in  France  stated  that  there  were 
twenty-five  English  gentlemen  ready  to  serve  as  captains  under 
Carew,  and  great  hopes  were  entertained  from  their  assistance. 
One,  Captain  Cray,  moreover,  commanding  a  company  of  one 
hundred  English  horse,  joined  the  French  land  forces  in  the 
war  against  the  emperor. 

But  the  condition  of  the  refugees  was  very  different  from 
what  had  been  imagined.  They  were  spied  upon,  and  betrayed. 
They  could  not  trust  one  another.  They  were  harassed  by 
doubts  as  to  whether  their  conduct  was  really  patriotic,  after 
all.  Their  boasting  and  loud  threats  evaporated  in  next  to 
nothing,  and  hardly  anything  was  done  to  forward  the  object 
they  had  so  much  at  heart. 

The  Ambassador  Wotton  never  lost  sight  of  them.  He 
had  spies  who  shared  all  their  secrets,  and  very  little  indeed 
seems  to  have  escaped  his  observation.  Accordingly,  he  sent 
home  full  reports  of  the  doings  of  the  rebels,  and  of  their 
reception  in  France. 

The  queen  was  filled  witjp  wrath  to  think  that  these  dis- 
obedient subjects  should  be  enabled  to  defy  her  under  the 
shelter  of  a  friendly  power.  Again  and  again  she  demanded 
their  extradition  with  growing  impatience  and  choler.  On 
one  occasion,  during  an  interview  with  Noailles  on  this 
subject,  her  face  was  so  transformed  by  anger  that  it  lost  all 
traces  of  feminine  sweetness,  as  the  French  ambassador  quaintly 
puts  it.  But  Xoailles  met  the  queen's  remonstrances  with  the 
utmost  imperturbability.  He  continued  his  assurances  that 
his  master  knew  nothing  of  the  men,  while  by  the  next  courier 
he  sent  back  advices  that  Carew  and  his  fellows  should  be  better 
concealed.  Pushed  to  an  extreme  of  impatience,  he  once 
declared  that  his  master  could  not  consent  to  be  the  queen's 
hangman ;  but  beyond  this  he  made  no  approach  to  a  con- 
fession of  complicity.     Mary,  muttering  vague  threats  of  war, 


The  Exiles  in  France.  yj 

felt  obliged  to  accept  these  declarations,  though  she  knew 
perfectly  well  how  false  they  were. 

It  was  not  only  by  threats  that  the  queen  approached  the 
exiles.  Softer  means  were  also  tried,  and  cajolement  and 
promises  nearly  accomplished  what  menace  had  failed  to 
perform  ;  so  much  so,  that  the  French  king  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  intercept  despatches,  fearing  lest  they  should  deprive 
him  of  his  new  allies. 

Wotton,  the  ambassador,  however,  was  steadily  at  work 
all  the  time,  and  his  efforts  were  speedily  crowned  with  success. 
The  rebels  had  much  to  make  them  dissatisfied  with  their  lot, 
and  they  had  good  reason  to  be  unsteady  in  their  original 
purpose.  In  spite  of  the  money  they  had  received  from  the 
French  king,  they  suffered  from  extreme  poverty,  and  it  was 
perfectly  apparent  that  they  could  not  prevent  the  landing 
of  Philip  in  England.  Quarrels  had  broken  out  among  them, 
and  the  presence  of  traitors  and  spies  in  their  midst  was  only 
too  certain.  Added  to  all  this,  they  must  have  been  harassed 
by  cruel  doubts  as  to  their  loyalty  and  patriotism,  and  have 
asked  themselves  if,  after  all,  it  was  much  better  to  deliver 
their  country  to  France  than  to  Spain.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a 
great  blow  to  them  when  they  learned,  about  the  beginning  of 
March,  1554,  that  Pickering  had  made  his  peace  with  the 
queen,  and  that  he  would  be  received  back  into  favour.  The 
ex-ambassador  had  been  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  chief  men 
among  the  refugees.  All  their  secrets  were  in  his  hands,  and 
thus,  not  only  had  they  to  bear  his  loss,  but  they  were  placed 
in  a  most  dangerous  position.  The  impetuous  Staffords,  less 
scrupulous  than  their  fellows,  were  for  following  the  deserter 
and  despatching  him.  But,  restrained  by  then*  wiser  friends, 
they  finally  let  him  go  unmolested. 

Wotton  might  well  be  proud  of  his  success,  so  soon  gained, 
and  at  so  small  a  cost.  But  he  intended  to  push  it  farther,  and 
wished  to  retain  Pickering  in  order  to  employ  him  to  convert 
Carew  and  the  rest.     But  the  ex-ambassador  thought  it  would 


yS  Submission  of  Carew. 

not  be  safe  for  him  to  remain  in  France,  both  on  account  of 
the  resentment  of  the  king  and  the  choler  of  his  associates. 
He  therefore  left  Paris  secretly,  and,  passing  by  Lyons,  pro- 
ceeded to  Italy  through  the  Empire.  Before  he  left,  he 
informed  "Wotton  that  Henry  II.  intended  to  land  the  rebels  at 
Lee,  in  Essex,  and  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  either  to  fortify 
them  there,  or  march  on  to  raise  the  country  against  the 
Government. 

But  if  Wotton  could  not  retain  Pickering  in  France  for  his 
own  purposes,  fortune  favoured  him  with  other  converts  who 
would  serve  the  same  ends.  The  conversion  of  Pickering  had 
so  disheartened  the  others,  who  began  to  see  that  the  game 
was  up.  Some  were  sure  to  follow  his  example  ;  and  this  very 
soon  happened.  In  the  following  May,  two  more  of  the 
refugees,  Randall  and  Staunton,  demanded  forgiveness,  and 
were  pardoned,  on  condition  of  spying  upon  the  others. 
Randall  seems  to  have  devoted  his  energies  to  secure  the 
conversion  of  Carew,  while  Staunton  did  his  utmost  to  sow 
dissensions  among  thos?  about  him,  bending  his  energies  to 
make  them  odious  to  the  French  king,  and  so  prevent  their 
obtaining  appointments  or  employment.  Both  met  with  re- 
markable success. 

The  desertion  of  Pickering  had  much  shaken  Carew,  and 
it  required  but  little  to  bring  him  on  his  knees.  Before  the 
end  of  July  Randall  was  enabled  to  report  that  his  conversion 
had  been  effected.  Carew  himself  wrote  a  humble  and 
lamentable  letter,  asking  pardon  for  his  faults,  and  protesting 
that  he  had  never  been  anything  but  a  loyal  subject.  Like  an 
honourable  man  he  refused  to  leave  the  French  court  without 
asking  permission.  For  this  purpose  he  sent  the  younger 
Killigrew  to  Paris  to  declare  his  position  and  intentions.  The 
constable  who  received  the  envoy  detained  him  four  days, 
grumbled  a  good  deal  about  the  inconstancy  of  the  English, 
but  finished  by  letting  him  depart  with  the  required  permission. 
In  Ms  present  state  of  mind  Carew  could  no  longer  be  of  any 


The  Exiles  in  France.  yg 

service  to  the  French  Crown.  He  at  once  availed  himself  of 
the  permission  Killigrew  had  obtained  for  him,  and  sadly 
departed  for  Venice,  still  under  the  shadow  of  the  royal  dis- 
pleasure, and  in  the  anticipation  of  a  miserable  life  upon 
straitened  means.  Even  in  the  republic  he  did  not  feel  quite 
at  his  ease,  and  imagined  that  Peter  Vannes  wished  to  have 
him  assassinated.  No  harm,  however,  came  to  him,  and  he 
remained  in  Venice  till  the  end  of  the  year.  About  that  time, 
hearing  that  his  wife  was  in  the  Low  Countries,  he  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  of  going  thither  to  meet  her.  At 
Antwerp  he  was  unexpectedly  arrested,  together  with  Sir  John 
Cheke,  conveyed  to  England,  and  put  in  the  Tower.  A 
pardon,  however,  was  speedily  forthcoming,  and  Carew  lived 
to  faithfully  serve  both  Mary  and  her  successor  in 
Ireland. 

Although  this  remarkable  episode  in  the  life  of  Carew  is 
by  no  means  so  clear  as  it  might  be,  it  seems  practically  certain 
that  he  never  wished  to  be  anything  but  loyal  and  patriotic. 
His  plans  of  invasion  with  French  help  rest  only  upon  the 
authority  of  Wotton,  who  in  his  turn  had  to  rely  upon  an 
informant  of  more  or  less  credibility.  Pickering  himself  may 
have  been  deceived,  or  perhaps  he  invented  the  story  as  a 
means  of  pardon.  In  any  case  no  active  preparations  were 
made  to  bring  about  an  invasion.  This  fact,  together  with  the 
absence  of  further  proofs,  compels  us  to  believe  the  assertions 
of  Carew  himself  as  to  his  innocence.  But  it  is  equally  certain 
that  he  was  determined  to  prevent  the  Spanish  marriage  if  it 
were  possible.  For  that  purpose  he  was  prepared  to  use  armed 
resistance,  to  force  the  queen  to  compliance  against  her  will. 
It  is  not  probable  that  he  wished  to  depose  Mary  in  favour  of 
Courtenay  and  Elizabeth,  although  he  would  have  been  pleased 
to  have  seen  the  young  couple  married  and  declared  the  heirs 
to  the  Crown.  But  when  he  had  once  realized  that  the  Spanish 
match  was  inevitable,  and  that  it  did  not  lie  in  his  power  to 
prevent  it,  he  desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  make  his  peace 


80  General  submission  of  tJie  Exiles. 

with  the  queen,  and  return  again  to  serve  his  sovereign  and 
the  country  he  loved  so  dearly. 

The  submission  of  Carew  and  the  machinations  of  Staunton 
completely  broke  up  the  band  of  exiles  that  remained.  The 
leaders  of  the  party  were  Bryan  Fitzwilliam  and  Staunton 
himself.  As  the  latter  was  a  spy  and  a  traitor,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  affairs  of  the  refugees  speedily  went 
from  bad  to  worse.  Neglected  by  the  French  king,  who  no 
longer  had  any  confidence  in  them,  they  were  reduced  to  the 
greatest  straits.  Destitute  alike  of  arms,  money,  and  even 
food,  they  were  reduced  to  stealing  in  order  to  gain  wherewith 
to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  From  their  quarters  at 
Neuchatel,  in  Normandy,  they  made  forays  upon  the  neigh- 
bouring country,  and,  not  satisfied  with  this,  they  quarrelled 
among  themselves,  and  robbed  and  plundered  each  other.  The 
author  of  this  miserable  state  of  affairs,  Staunton,  must  have 
rubbed  his  hands  with  glee,  for  by  no  other  means  could  the 
danger  of  the  English  government  be  so  effectually  removed, 
at  least  from  this  quarter.  Wotton  wrote  home  advising  the 
queen  and  king  to  grant  a  free  pardon  to  all  the  refugees, 
feeling  assured  that  by  this  means  the  government  would  turn 
these  rebels  into  faithful  subjects. 

No  such  pardon,  however,  was  granted,  nor  indeed  was  it 
necessary.  Misery  and  suspicion  effectually  accomplished  the 
same  work.  Early  in  July,  Bryan  Fitzwilliam  was  on  his 
knees  imploring  pardon,  and  assuring  the  queen  that  he  had 
not  served  the  French  king  for  the  last  eight  months.  Before 
the  end  of  the  following  October  almost  all  the  others  had 
likewise  submitted,  and  the  danger  of  a  revolt  in  England  with 
French  assistance  seemed  at  an  end. 

In  spite  of  the  general  submission,  and  notwithstanding 
the  successful  accomplishment  of  the  marriage  of  Philip  and 
Mary,  there  still  remained  a  small  band  of  Englishmen  in 
France  determined  to  carry  on  the  war  against  the  Spaniards 
on  their  own  account.     The  chief  of  this  party  was  one  Peter 


The  Exiles  in  France.  81 

Killigrew,  a  member  of  an  illustrious  family  and  destined  to 
make  a  notable  reputation  for  himself.  Fortunate  in  com- 
manding ships  given  to  him  by  the  King  of  France,  he  speedily 
turned  them  to  account.  We  have  already  seen  that  as  early 
as  March,  1554,  he  had  put  to  sea  with  three  ships.  He  seems 
to  have  speedily  increased  his  fleet,  probably  by  adding  to  it 
the  best  of  the  vessels  that  he  captured,  for  from  this  moment 
he  seems  to  have  become  a  licensed  freebooter.  Spain  was 
the  principal  object  of  Killigrew's  hatred,  and  he  considered 
his  readiest  way  to  injure  that  power  would  be  to  attack  and 
rob  Spanish  ships.  The  King  of  France  was  ready  to  give 
him  every  assistance  that  he  could  possibly  afford  in  secret, 
for  it  still  remained  necessary  for  him  to  conciliate  the  English 
government.  The  Killigrews  made  every  use  of  their  licence. 
Darting  from  the  ports  of  Normandy  and  the  Channel  Islands, 
they  swooped  upon  all  the  vessels  bearing  the  Spanish  flag 
that  they  came  across.  Returning  in  triumph  to  such  places 
as  Conquest,  La  Rochelle,  or  the  Hague,  they  sold  their  prizes 
and  realized  considerable  sums  of  money.  By  this  means  they 
escaped  the  privations  from  which  their  countrymen  suffered 
so  severely,  and  indeed  they  lived  in  comparative  opulence. 

As  before,  the  remonstrances  of  the  English  government 
proved  unavailing.  The  king  and  the  constable  affected  to 
ignore  the  existence  of  these  corsairs,  and  though  the  latter 
promised  to  prevent  their  ships  from  entering  a  French  port 
again,  he  somehow  forgot  to  keep  his  word. 

But  the  time  of  the  Killigrews'  prosperity  drew  speedily 
to  a  close.  Not  satisfied  with  Spanish  vessels  only,  they  fell 
upon  English,  and  even  upon  French  merchantmen,  and  might 
well  be  considered  as  public  enemies.  In  June,  1556,  they 
captured  two  English  vessels  and  armed  them  to  form  part 
of  their  own  fleet.  The  English  government  at  last  realized 
that  it  was  necessary  to  take  active  and  energetic  measures  to 
put  down  this  nuisance.  Ships  were  fitted  out  and  sent  in 
pursuit  of  the  corsairs.     In  the  following  month  the  queen's 

G 


82  Defeat  of  the  Corsairs. 

fleet  of  eight  vessels  came  up  with  the  pirates  who  had  ten. 
In  the  sharp  engagement  which  followed,  the  rebels  were  com- 
pletely worsted.  Six  of  their  ships  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  and  the  four  which  succeeded  in  escaping  were  hotly 
pursued  by  the  royal  vessels.  Peter  Killigrew  himself  was  on 
one  of  these  four  vessels,  and  he  made  good  his  escape,  but 
his  brother  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  queen's  captains,  and 
was  carried  off  a  prisoner  to  England.  In  spite  of  the  efforts 
of  his  father,  who  endeavoured  to  buy  his  pardon,  he  could 
obtain  no  forgiveness,  and  in  all  probability  soon  suffered  the 
penalty  for  his  rebellion.  His  companions  and  followers 
suffered  a  like  fate,  for  we  may  almost  certainly  identify  them 
with  the  numerous  pirates  about  this  time  who  were  hanged  at 
low-water  mark  at  Wapping. 

This  naval  action  of  July,  1556,  effectually  quelled  the 
excesses  of  the  English  pirates.  It  is  true  that  they  did  not 
entirely  give  31  p  their  marauding  expeditions,  but  the  old 
spirit  had  been  knocked  out  of  them,  and  they  could  no  longer 
act  Avith  such  reckless  daring  as  before.  This  little  episode, 
however,  of  maritime  history  is  interesting  as  showing  the 
tendencies  for  adventure  at  sea  which  were  rapidly  spreading 
among  Englishmen  even  at  this  early  period,  and  which  gave 
us,  later  on,  such  men  las  Drake,  Hawkins,  and  Frobisher,  with 
a  crowd  of  others  hardly  less  renowned. 

The  departure  and  submission  of  Pickering  and  Carew  had, 
as  I  have  said,  almost  completely  broken  up  the  party  of  the 
rebels  in  France,  and  put  an  end  to  their  activity.  With  the 
exception  of  the  excursions  of  the  Killigrews,  no  hostile  demon- 
strations were  made  against  the  Spaniards.  This  state  of 
affairs  was  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  English  diplomatists 
were  doing  their  utmost  to  bring  about  peace  between  France 
and  Spain. 

English  statesmen,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  Cardinal  Pole, 
seemed  determined  to  neutralize  the  fatal  tendencies  of  the 
marriage  of   Philip  and  Mary,  and  to  assert  the  mediating 


The  Exiles  in  France.  83 

position  of  England  in  spite  of  it.  Henry  II.  of  France 
accepted  this  solution  of  his  difficulties  as  the  best  he  could 
have  hoped  for,  and  therefore  he  was  in  no  mind  to  give 
that  countenance  to  English  rebels  as  he  had  done  in  the 
past. 

Unfortunately  the  \  negotiations  did  not  end  in  a  definite 
peace,  and  only  a  flimsy  truce  resulted  from  the  labours  of  the 
plenipotentiaries.  In  spite  of  the  undoubted  sincerity  of  Pole, 
it  is  doubtful  if  either  Philip  or  Mary  really  wished  for  peace. 
The  Prince  of  Spain  counted  upon  the  alliance  of  England, 
notwithstanding  the  restiveness  of  the  people,  and  he  thought 
that  Spain  and  England  together  would  crush  France.  As 
for  Mary,  she  was  only  anxious  to  gratify  her  adored  husband 
in  every  possible  way.  Henry  II.  realized  his  danger  as  well 
as  he  had  done  before,  and  he  determined  to  meet  it  in  the 
same  way.  Once  more  he  was  ready  to  receive  and  encourage 
English  rebels,  and  he  is  reported  to  have  said  openly  that  he 
would  rather  suffer  in  his  own  person  than  fail  to  receive  and 
entertain  kindly  any  Englishman,  of  however  low  degree,  who 
might  take  refuge  in  his  realm. 

The  opportunity  was  not  wanting.  Undeterred  by  con- 
tinual failures,  the  malcontents  in  England  were  continually 
active.  The  religious  persecutions  had  embittered  the  enemies 
of  the  government  and  cooled  its  friends,  and  in  the  spring  of 
155G  the  air  was  once  more  filled  with  plots  and  conspiracies. 
The  spirit  that  had  prompted  the  revolt  of  1554  had  not 
perished  with  Wyatt,  nor  submitted  with  Carew.  But  it  had 
become  more  reckless  and  less  patriotic.  According  to  the 
version  of  the  government,  the  conspirators  intended  to  set 
fire  to  London,  and  to  retire  to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  There 
they  were  to  raise  the  standard  of  revolt,  with  the  help  of 
French  arms  and  money,  and  proclaim  Elizabeth  and  Courtenay 
as  king  and  queen  of  England. 

It  is  exceedingly  doubtful  if  any  such  plan  was  ever  seriously 
elaborated.     But  a  report  of  a   French  invasion  might  serve 


84  Conspiracy  of  1556. 

the  purpose  of  the  government  by  raising  the  national  jealousy 
against  the  foreigners,  while  it  would  enable  the  queen  to  rid 
herself  of  many  persons  objectionable  to  her.  Mary  may 
indeed  have  believed  the  report,  for  she  was  painfully  conscious 
of  the  unpopularity  of  her  government,  and  knew  well  that  the 
people  desired  nothing  better  than  its  overthrow. 

Consequently,  as  soon  as  the  government  had  learned  of 
the  existence  of  a  conspiracy  (for  a  conspiracy  there  most 
undoubtedly  was),  it  proceeded  to  take  prompt  measures  of 
repression.  Such  ringleaders  as  could  be  seized  were  thrown 
into  prison  and  closely  examined.  Sir  Thomas  Uvedale, 
the  governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  John  Throckmorton 
both  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  for  then*  complicity.  Sir 
Antony  Kingston,  a  prominent  member  of  the  opposition  in 
Parliament,  died  of  stone  on  his  way  to  prison,  though  many 
asserted  that  he  had  been  secretly  made  away  with  by  the 
government.  Many  others  also  suffered,  but  the  measures  of 
the  royal  officials  were  not  completely  successful.  Numbers  of 
the  conspirators  escaped  across  the  sea,  and,  like  Carew  before 
them,  went  to  seek  help  and  money  from  Henry  of  France. 
Of  these  the  principal  were  Henry  Dudley,  a  member  of  the 
family  of  the  late  Duke  of  Northumberland,  and  Christopher 
Assheton,  a  gentleman  of  some  condition  and  standing.  With 
them  were  two  of  the  Horsey  family,  a  Cornewall  of  Essex,  and 
others  of  meaner  lineage.  Apparently  the  king  speedily  granted 
them  an  interview,  for  at  the  beginning  of  April  they  met  him 
secretly  at  night.  The  rebels  held  out  to  the  French  king 
great  hopes  and  dazzling  promises  if  he  would  assist  them. 
They  asserted  that  all  England  would  rise  to  help  them,  and 
that  some  of  those  about  Queen  Mary  were  in  sympathy  with 
them — nay,  even  some  members  of  the  Privy  Council.  Finally, 
as  the  price  of  the  king's  aid,  they  promised  to  betray  Calais 
to  him,  a  town  long  desired  by  the  French,  for  it  was  at 
once  the  memorial  of  past  defeats,  and  a  menace  to  their 
future  security. 


The  Exiles  in  France.  85 

Henry  received  these  advances  very  graciously,  and  pro- 
bably hoped  that  this  rebellion  would  prove  more  effective  than 
the  last.  To  Dudley  he  gave  a  present  of  fifteen  hundred 
crowns  ;  to  the  others,  sums  varying  from  three  to  five  hundred 
crowns,  while  he  encouraged  the  hope  that  he  would  assist 
them  by  his  co-operation.  Caution,  however,  was  necessary  in 
order  to  lull  the  suspicions  of  the  Queen  of  England.  Accord- 
ingly Henry  bade  the  refugees  retire  to  the  coast,  saying  that 
when  there  they  could  have  better  intelligence  with  their 
fellows  in  England.  We  may  suspect  that  the  actual  reason 
was  that  he  wished  them  far  away  in  places  where  they  would 
be  less  likely  to  be  observed  by  the  Ambassador  Wotton.  The 
arrival  of  the  rebels  and  their  night  interview  with  the  king 
had  not,  however,  escaped  the  notice  of  the  lynx-eyed  envoy. 
As  many  of  the  English  who  had  been  with  Carew,  and  who 
had  submitted  with  him,  still  remained  in  France,  he  was 
exceedingly  well  supplied  with  spies  and  informers.  To  the 
home  government  he  sent  home  a  full  account  of  these 
matters  as  a  warning  against  the  unfriendly  dispositions  of 
King  Henry. 

Queen  Mary  and  her  counsellors  at  once  took  alarm  at  this 
disagreeable  state  of  affairs.  The  late  plot  had  spread  its 
influence  in  many  directions,  but  though  numerous  arrests  had 
been  made,  the  government  could  not  tell  how  far  the  mischief 
still  existed.  Evidently  discontent  was  rife  throughout  the 
country,  and  if  the  French  king  gave  the  malcontents  his 
assistance,  who  could:  tell  what  might  happen  ?  The  queen 
considered  the  situation  sufficiently  grave  as  to  demand  the 
services  of  a  special  envoy  at  the  French  court,  and  for  this 
mission  she  selected  Lord  Clinton. 

x\s  might  have  been  anticipated,  the  new  ambassador 
extraordinary  met  with  a  most  cordial  reception,  as  far  as  out- 
ward appearances  went,  but  with  no  real  success.  At  the  French 
court  at  Blois  Henry  received  him  with  the  utmost  cordiality, 
and  loaded  him  with  rich  presents.     When  Clinton  complained 


86  Mission  of  Lord  Clinton. 

of  the  welcome  given  to  the  English  rebels,  and  proposed  to 
arrange  some  compact  by  which  the  enemies  of  both  govern- 
ments should  be  mutually  given  up,  the  king  resorted  to  the 
old  excuse  that  his  kingdom  was  so  large  that  he  could  not 
tell  who  entered  it  or  who  departed  from  it.  He  made  Clinton 
understand,  however,  that  he  would  shortly  deliver  up  all  the 
refugees  into  the  queen's  hands.  Delighted  at  the  graciousness 
of  the  French  monarch,  and  completely  satisfied  about  the 
success  of  his  mission,  the  envoy  returned  to  England  to 
report  the  results  of  his  journey  at  the  English  court. 

But  he  had  been  grievously  deceived.  The  French  king 
had  been  throwing  dust  in  his  eyes  all  the  time.  At  the  very 
moment  when  Clinton  was  at  his  court,  many  of  the  English 
rebels  were  there  also,  waiting  for  the  departure  of  the 
ambassador  in  order  to  be  able  to  concert  with  King  Henry 
their  schemes  against  the  government  of  Queen  Mary.  The 
mission  of  Clinton  had  no  effect  upon  then-  activity,  unless  it 
served  to  stimulate  their  exertions.  His  back  had  hardly  been 
turned,  ere  the  rebels  pressed  eagerly  forward  their  plans  of 
invasion  and  revolution. 

Although  imprisoned  at  the  time  of  Wyatt's  rebellion  on 
the  suspicion  of  complicity  in  that  rising,  Courtenay,  Earl  of 
Devon,  had  been  subsequently  released  by  the  government, 
which  could  find  absolutely  nothing  of  a  treasonable  nature  to 
bring  against  him.  But  the  presence  of  the  young  and 
popular  earl  in  England  would  have  been  too  dangerous  for 
the  Spanish  party,  who  dreaded  lest  he  should  become  the 
centre  of  the  opposition  against  them.  The  unfortunate  young 
man  was  therefore  constrained  to  leave  his  native  land,  and  to 
seek  a  refuge  in  foreign  parts.  In  fear  of  his  life  if  he 
remained  in  Hapsburg  territory,  yet  anxious  not  to  offend  by 
going  to  France,  he  chose  the  mistress  of  the  Adriatic  as  his 
asylum,  and  settled  down  in  proud  and  independent  Venice  to 
enjoy  what  peace  and  tranquillity  he  might. 

But  he  had  never  ceased  to  be  the  hope  of  the  anti-Spanish 


The  Exiles  in  France.  Sy 

party  in  England.  They  still  looked  forward  to  the  time 
when  he  should  be  their  king,  and  if  Mary  would  not  have  hiin 
they  hoped  to  unite  him  to  Elizabeth,  and  cause  the  young 
couple  to  be  proclaimed,  if  not  king  and  queen,  at  least  heirs- 
presumptive  to  the  throne. 

Animated  by  such  ideas  as  these,  Dudley  and  his  fellows 
longed  to  draw  Courtenay  from  his  retirement  and  make  him 
their  leader.  Towards  Whitsuntide,  1556,  Henry  Killigrew 
departed  for  Venice  to  sound  the  earl  on  this  subject,  and,  if 
possible,  bring  him  to  France.  But  Courtenay  was  not  of  the 
stuff  of  which  conspirators  are  made,  and  he  had  none  of  the 
resolution  and  courage  necessary  for  any  one  who  wishes  to 
overthrow  a  government.  His  education  had  not  been  such  as 
to  cultivate  his  mind  or  his  mettle,  and  his  spirit  had  been 
broken  by  long  imprisonment,  and  by  the  continual  fear  of 
death.  Instead  of  the  young  earl  of  noble  bearing  and  intrepid 
courage  Killigrew  had  expected  to  see,  he  found  only  a 
weakling,  broken  in  mind  and  body,  desiring  only  to  conciliate 
the  English  government  and  the  Spaniards,  and  anxious  to  end 
his  days  in  peace.  No  help  could  be  expected  from  such  an 
individual,  and  Henry  Killigrew  returned  to  France  to  report 
the  complete  futility  of  his  mission. 

The  Earl  of  Devon  did  not  long  survive  this  visit.  Cruelly 
and  unjustly  persecuted  as  he  had  been,  watched  at  every  turn 
as  he  still  was,  life  seemed  to  have  lost  all  its  charm  for  him, 
and  he  grew  careless  of  it.  In  the  autumn  of  this  same  year, 
whilst  wandering  about,  he  was  overtaken  by  a  heavy  rain  and 
drenched  to  the  skin.  From  a  neglect  of  proper  precautions, 
he  caught  a  chill,  from  the  effects  of  which  he  died  soon  after, 
on  the  18th  of  September,  and  an  hour  later  Peter  Vannes,  the 
English  envoy  at  Venice,  hurried  to  inform  the  queen  of  the 
happy  event.  Although  Courtenay  was  not  dangerous  in  himself 
and  never  could  have  been  so,  he  was  a  dangerous  centre  of 
disaffection,  and  as  such  the  queen  had  cause  to  rejoice  at  his 
death.     Many  psrsons  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  she  had  done 


88  Death  of  Courtenay. 

something  to  bring  it  about,  and  that  the  sudden  decease  of 
the  young  earl  in  the  flower  of  his  age  was  due  to  a  dose  of 
poison  administered  by  Peter  Valines  in  conformity  with  the 
orders  of  a  jealous  and  alarmed  government.  But  this  is  mere 
suspicion.  In  the  fifteenth  century  such  accusations  were  only 
too  common,  and  every  unexpected  decease  was  explained  in 
this  way.  However  anxious  the  government  may  have  been 
to  be  rid  of  Courtenay,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  it 
would  have  stooped  to  a  crime  in  order  to  gain  its  purpose. 
The  account  of  the  causes  of  the  earl's  last  illness,  as  sent  home 
by  Peter  Vannes  himself,  is  sufficiently  circumstantial  and 
probable  to  allow  us  to  accept  his  version  of  the  story. 

Thus  miserably,  far  from  home  and  friends,  perished  a  man 
to  whom  Fortune  had  opened  visions  of  greatness  and  glory 
such  as  no  English  subject  had  ever  before  deemed  attainable. 
But  the  very  vision  of  greatness,  though  unsought  by  himself, 
blighted  his  prospects  and  ruined  his  life.  The  deceitful  smile 
of  Fortune  lured  him  to  his  destruction. 

Meanwhile,  Dudley  and  his  companions  in  France,  although 
disappointed  in  their  hopes  of  assistance  from  Courtenay, 
continued  to  menace  the  peace  of  England.  Various  plans  of 
invasion  were  mooted.  Assheton  suggested  a  general  descent 
upon  all  the  principal  places  of  the  south  coast,  including  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  Southampton,  Poole,  Weymouth  and  Portland. 
Others  were  for  attacking  Yarmouth  and  Harwich,  while  the 
Staff ords  wanted  to  go  still  further  north  and  planned  the 
reduction  of  Scarborough. 

But  these  plans  and  plots  came  to  very  little.  Things  were 
not  going  at  all  well  with  the  rebels.  In  spite  of  all  Henry's 
fervent  protestations  they  were  badly  in  want  of  money,  and 
with  the  exception  of  those  who  gained  a  livelihood  by  piracy, 
they  suffered  severely  from  all  sorts  of  privations.  The 
pusillanimity  of  Courtenay  must  have  done  much  to  discourage 
them.  But  this  was  not  all.  Hearing  that  Sir  Peter  Carew 
was  at  Antwerp,  they  hoped  to  gain  the  co-operation  of  this 


The  Exiles  in  France.  89 

once  so  celebrated  rebel.  Accordingly  they  sent  to  him  to 
invite  his  assistance,  at  the  same  time  imparting  to  him  their 
plans.  But  Sir  Peter  had  greatly  changed  since  the  days  when 
he  had  cried  out  against  the  Spanish  marriage.  The  refugees 
had  grievously  misplaced  their  confidence  in  telling  him  of 
their  designs,  for  he  had  no  sooner  heard  them  than  he  com- 
municated the  whole  plot  to  the  English  government.  Poverty 
and  misery  had  so  shaken  the  resolution  of  many  of  the  rebels 
that  they  were  ready  and  willing  to  make  their  peace  with  the 
queen,  and  as  early  as  July,  Wotton  was  able  to  inform  Petre 
that  one  of  the  most  prominent  among  them,  a  Captain  Grayer, 
would  at  once  return  to  England  if  he  could  obtain  an 
appointment. 

Such  being  the  state  of  affairs,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
threats  and  projects  of  invasion  of  1556  proved  just  as  empty 
and  abortive  as  those  of  1554.  But  at  the  later  date  other 
matter  was  in  hand.  At  his  very  first  coming  to  France, 
Dudley  had  offered  the  French  king  the  possession  of  Calais 
as  the  price  of  his  assistance.  This  was  the  part  of  the  rebels' 
scheme  which  most  commended  itself  to  Henry's  mind. 
Although  the  king  would  not  break  openly  with  the  English 
government,  he  was  anxious  to  do  all  that  could  be  done 
secretly  towards  regaining  this  important  French  fortress,  that 
had  so  long  been  in  the  hands  of  the  foreigner.  Dudley 
informed  him  that  the  whole  system  of  forts  in  the  Calais 
district  was  negligently  guarded,  that  the  garrisons  were 
undermanned,  and  insufficiently  supplied  with  provisions  and 
munitions  of  war.  A  number  of  French  spies  were  busy  in 
Calais,  and  the  French  troops  were  being  massed  in  Normandy 
and  Picardy,  at  Rouen  and  Abbeville.  Dudley  further  suggested 
that  the  French  should  occupy  and  fortify  Xewnham  Bridge, 
for  if  tins  was  done  he  asserted  that  Guisnes  could  not  hold 
out  a  week.  The  question  was  further  complicated  by  the 
claims  of  the  French  to  Sandingfield,  an  abbey  situated  on 
the  frontier  line  between  Calais  and  Boulogne. 


90  Danger  of  Calais. 

This  accumulation  of  dangers  at  last  awakened  the  govern- 
ment to  a  full  sense  of  its  responsibilities.  Calais  was  not 
a  place  to  be  lightly  parted  with.  The  major  portion  of  the 
revenue  of  the  kingdom  was  expended  upon  it.  From  both  a 
military  and  commercial  point  of  view,  it  was  regarded  as  of 
vital  importance  to  England.  By  the  military  authorities  of 
the  time  it  was  considered  the  military  key  of  tins  country, 
which  in  the  hands  of  an  enemy  would  be  a  standing  menace 
to  the  security  of  the  realm.  As  a  commercial  city,  it  con- 
tained the  wool  staple,  and  was  the  sole  legitimate  channel 
through  which  English  goods  passed  to  the  continental 
markets.  If  tins  all  important  place  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  French,  it  was  freely  thought  and  asserted  that 
nothing  less  than  military  and  commercial  ruin  attended  this 
country. 

The  situation  was  indeed  such  an  one  as  to  cause  great 
anxiety.  Xot  only  was  Calais  full  of  spies,  not  only  were 
French  troops  massing  on  the  frontiers,  but  the  queen's  very 
representatives  were  not  thoroughly  to  be  depended  upon. 
Lord  Gray,  the  governor  of  Guisnes,  was  a  Protestant,  and 
known  to  be  disaffected  on  account  of  the  changes  in  religion. 
Lord  Dudley,  the  governor  of  Hammes,  was  a  brother  of 
Dudley  the  rebel,  and  reported  to  be  ready  to  hand  over  the 
castle  to  him ;  nay,  the  very  Lord  Deputy  of  Calais  himself 
was  suspected  of  carrying  on  treasonable  relations  with  the 
French  government. 

These  pessimistical  representations  of  the  state  of  defence 
of  Calais  were  probably  exaggerated.  But  in  any  case  the 
home  government  acted  with  criminal  remissness.  Some 
activity  was  shown  in  the  summer  of  1556.  The  governor 
endeavoured  to  get  hold  of  the  spies,  but  without  any  very 
great  success.  A  man  named  Tuckfield  committed  suicide  to 
escape  arrest,  while  a  Frenchman  named  Devisat  let  himself 
over  the  wall  and  got  safely  away.  The  dispute  between  Lord 
Gray  and  the  governor  of  Boulogne  about  Sandingfield  had 


The  Exiles  in  France.  91 

given  rise  to  a  skirmish  between  the  French  and  English  troops, 
in  which  blood  had  been  shed.  The  matter  began  to  look  so 
serious  that  the  Deputy  Pembroke  judged  it  advisable  to  send 
reinforcements  of  three  or  four  hundred  men  to  his  colleague. 
Happily,  this  question  was  not  destined  to  cause  a  war  between 
England  and  France.  Both  nations  looked  calmly  on  the 
matter,  and  a  commission  was  appointed  to  define  the  frontier 
on  that  side. 

This  fortunate  termination  of  what  promised  to  be  a 
serious  affair  seems  to  have  exercised  an  extraordinarily  sooth- 
ing effect  upon  the  English  government.  Too  readily  assuming 
the  friendly  disposition  of  the  French,  and  relying  too  implicitly 
upon  the  strength  of  the  virgin  fortress,  Calais  again  suffered 
from  the  neglect  of  its  rulers,  and  remained  under  -garrisoned 
and  almost  destitute  of  stores. 

The  King  of  France  did  not  have  to  wait  long  before  he 
was  able  to  snatch  this  coveted  fortress  from  the  hands  which 
held  it  so  loosely.  When  open  war  had  been  declared  between 
England  and  France,  less  than  eight  months  later,  King  Henry 
was  able  to  profit  by  the  information  Dudley  had  given  him. 
When  the  Duke  of  Guise  suddenly  appeared  before  Calais  in 
the  autumn  of  1557,  he  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  place 
would  fall  an  easy  prey  to  his  arms.  It  was  then  too  late  for 
the  English  government  to  send  men  and  provisions.  Small 
in  numbers  and  threatened  with  famine,  the  garrison  offered 
but  a  feeble  resistance,  and  almost  before  the  queen  had 
become  aware  that  the  place  was  besieged,  she  learned  that 
it  had  fallen. 

To-day,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  we  can  hardly 
realize  the  terrible  shock  this  news  caused  in  our  country. 
It  seemed  a  final  and  crushing  blow  to  the  prosperity  of 
England.  The  saying  of  Mary  that,  after  her  death,  Calais 
would  be  found  graven  upon  her  heart  seems  to  us  an 
extravagant  absurdity,  but  it  only  too  well  represents  the  general 
dismay  felt  at  the  time.     Had  it  not  been  for  the  preceding 


92  The  St  affords, 

victory  of  St.  Quentin,  and  the  general  assurance  that  the 
town  would  speedily  be  regained,  Englishrne  n  would  certainly 
have  despaired  of  their  country.  As  it  was,  the  loss  of  so 
important  a  possession  roused  to  a  still  higher  pitch  the 
indignation  and  discontent  of  the  people  against  a  government 
by  whose  negligence  this  great  disgrace  had  befallen  them. 

To  return  again  to  the  more  direct  work  of  the  exiles,  for 
we  have  not  yet  done  with  them.  The  various  projects  of 
invasion  concocted  by  the  malcontent  Englishmen  in  France 
did  not  entirely  end  in  talk  and  bluster.  Towards  the  end  of 
the  reign  of  Mary  an  expedition  of  refugees  actually  crossed 
the  seas  for  this  purpose,  and  though  they  were  promptly 
crushed,  still  their  action  served  finally  to  induce  the  English 
nation  to  take  part  with  Spain  in  the  war  against  France. 

Among  the  chief  of  those  Englishmen  present  at  the  Court 
of  Henry  II.,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1554,  were  two 
brothers,  Sir  Robert  and  Thomas  Stafford.  By  blood  they 
were  allied  to  the  royal  family  of  England,  for  their  father 
William,  Lord  Stafford,  had  married  Ursula  Pole,  sister  of  the 
celebrated  Cardinal,  and  of  this  union  they  were  the  offspring. 
In  May,  1553,  Thomas  at  least  was  in  Venice,  where  we  read 
that  by  special  favour  he  was  permitted  to  view  the  jewels  of 
St.  Mark,  and  obtained  the  privilege  of  wearing  arms.  Like 
many  young  Englishmen  of  that  period,  he  was  probably 
making  a  tour  of  the  Continent,  and  in  particular  of  Italy, 
which  at  that  time  exercised  a  great  influence  on  fashionable 
English  society.  On  the  news  of  the  death  of  King  Edward 
he  must  have  hurried  back  to  England,  where  he  took  part  in 
the  funeral  of  the  late  king,  as  one  of  the  bearers  of  the  royal 
body.  His  doings  about  this  time  are  somewhat  obscure, 
although  a  few  facts  stand  out  clear  in  the  mist  of  uncertainty. 
He  appears  to  have  sided  with  Queen  Mary,  and  is  reported  to 
have  distinguished  himself  in  fighting  against  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk.  But  if  he  was  opposed  to  the  rebels  at  this  time,  he 
was  no  friend  of  the  Spanish  marriage.     However  strong  his 


The  Exiles  in  France.  93 

love  of  legitimacy  in  the  succession  may  have  been,  he  was  as 
fierce  against  the  foreigner  as  any  of  the  hot-blooded  young 
nobles  and  gentry  about  him.  The  queen's  pertinacity  in  this 
matter  soon  extinguished  the  flame  of  loyalty  in  his  breast,  and 
before  long  he  was  a  rebel  and  a  refugee  himself.  At  the  end 
of  March  he  and  his  brother,  Sir  Robert,  arrived  at  Fon- 
tainbleau,  only  a  day  after  their  uncle.  They  seem  to  have 
at  once  attacked  the  worthy  cardinal  in  the  hope  of  converting 
him  to  their  views,  and  of  remonstrating  with  the  queen.  But 
Pole,  though  embarrassed  by  the  presence  of  his  unruly  nephews, 
for  he  had  come  to  treat  of  peace  between  France  and  Spain, 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  He  wrote  home  to  the 
queen  to  express  his  regret  at  their  rebellious  doings,  while  at 
Fontainbleau  he  turned  them  both  out  of  his  house,  and  refused 
even  to  see  their  letters. 

Cast  off  in  this  way  by  their  powerful  uncle,  the  two 
brothers  were  left  to  their  own  resources,  and  seem  to  have 
thrown  in  their  lot  with  Carew  and  his  party.  The  part  they 
played  at  this  time  must  have  been  quite  a  secondary  one,  and 
besides  their  outburst  of  wrath  against  Pickering  when  he  made 
his  peace  with  the  queen,  we  hear  almost  nothing  of  them. 
In  1555,  when  Carew  and  so  many  others  obtained  their 
pardon,  the  Staffords  refused  to  submit,  and  continued  to  stay 
in  France  in  and  about  the  French  court. 

This  life  of  exile  seems  to  have  had  a  most  prejudicial  effect 
upon  Thomas  Stafford.  Always  of  a  changeful  and  excitable 
nature,  he  began  to  develop  symptoms,  if  not  of  madness,  at 
least  of  extraordinary  folly.  Having  nothing  else  to  do,  he 
must  needs  fall  out  with  his  brother  Robert.  The  real  cause 
of  this  quarrel  can  only  be  surmised ;  it  may  possibly  have 
been  on  account  of  Thomas's  claim  to  the  English  throne,  of 
which,  however,  we  hear  nothing  till  a  month  later.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  cause,  in  the  fall  of  1556  Sir  Robert 
Stafford  complained  that  his  brother  was  going  about  to  assas- 
sinate him.     Upon  this  accusation,  he  caused  the  unfortunate 


94  Quarrel  between  the  Staffords. 

Thomas  to  be  seized  and  cast  into  a  vile  prison  at  Rouen,  among 
thieves  and  felons,  and  the  worst  malefactors.  Escaping  soon 
after,  Thomas  swore  that  he  would  be  even  with  his  brother, 
and  began  at  once  to  take  measures  to  obtain  redress.  Sir 
Eobert,  who,  if  he  had  feared  assassination  before,  now  had  double 
cause  to  expect  it,  hied  him  in  great  haste  to  the  king's  court, 
where  he  besieged  Henry  with  supplications  to  put  his  brother 
to  death.  It  was  certainly  with  much  justice  that  Wotton 
exclaimed,  "  If  ever  there  was  a  tragico  comedia  played,  surely 
these  men  played  it."  But,  after  all,  this  was  only  the  farce 
that  preceded  the  more  elaborate  drama. 

Of  this  lever  de  rideau  the  denouement  was  less  exciting 
than  the  beginning  had  promised.  Thomas  Stafford,  more 
fortunate  with  the  judges  than  his  brother  had  been  with  the 
king,  obtained  a  decision  in  his  favour  by  which  Sir  Robert 
was  cast  in  heavy  damages.  The  latter,  however,  by  his  im- 
portunity, got  the  case  evoked  by  the  royal  court,  and  both 
parties  were  summoned  to  Paris.  Here  neither  brother  would 
stir  out  of  his  lodgings  unless  accompanied  by  a  band  of  armed 
men.  What  eventually  came  of  this  matter  history  does  not 
record.  The  subsequent  silence  and  insignificance  of  Sir 
Robert  may  lead  us  to  suppose  that  he  lost.  While  the  matter 
was  on,  however,  he  endeavoured  to  keep  up  the  excitement  by 
the  addition  of  another  dispute.  Apparently  he  could  not  live 
except  in  an  atmosphere  of  quarrels. 

In  January,  1557,  at  the  same  time  as  Sir  Robert,  another 
important  Englishman  happened  to  be  sojourning  at  Paris. 
This  was  Bryan  Fitzwilliam,  for  a  short  time  the  leader  of  the 
English  refugees  after  the  departure  of  Carew.  In  July,  1555, 
he  had  made  his  submission  to  the  English  government,  but 
his  pardon  had  not  been  complete.  He  had  not  been  allowed 
to  return  to  England  to  serve  his  queen,  as  he  had  desired,  and 
he  was  still  lingering  in  exile  at  Paris.  Sir  Robert  Stafford 
had  probably  heard  of  FitzwilHam's  presence  in  the  capital,  but 
that  had  previously  interested  him  but  little.     Nearly  eighteen 


The  Exiles  in  France.  95 

months  had  elapsed  since  Fitzwilliam's  desertion  of  the  rebels' 
cause,  and  if  Sir  Robert  had  felt  himself  aggrieved,  he  must 
have  had  plenty  of  opportunities  of  giving  vent  to  his  dissatisfac- 
tion. Now,  however,  his  relations  with  his  brother  and  the 
pending  action  before  the  royal  court  made  him  anxious  to  be 
well  with  the  king,  and  to  prove  his  zeal  for  the  French  cause. 
The  fact  that  Fitzwilliam  was  one  of  his  brother's  greatest 
companions  only  stimulated  Sir  Robert  the  more  to  quarrel 
with  him.  For  the  dispute  to  break  out  into  an  open  brawl  it 
was  only  necessary  for  the  two  men  to  meet.  The  opportunity 
soon  came.  Coming  across  each  other  in  the  streets  of  Paris, 
Sir  Robert  called  out  that  Bryan  Fitzwilliam  was  a  traitor. 
The  other  retorted  by  calling  the  excited  knight  a  liar. 
Nothing  more  was  needed  ;  cartels  of  defiance  were  exchanged, 
the  seconds  intervened,  and  a  duel  was  arranged. 

On  the  afternoon  of  New  Year's  day,  1557,  the  loungers  of 
Paris  might  have  seen  a  curious  sight.  On  the  bridge  of  Notre 
Dame,  under  the  shadow  of  Maurice  de  Sully's  venerable 
masterpiece,  on  the  highway  between  the  right  and  left  banks 
of  the  city,  between  the  streets  of  St.  Jacques  and  St.  Martin, 
those  who  wished  might  have  seen  these  two  foreigners,  both 
rebels  and  exiles,  fighting  their  grim  battle.  The  struggle  was 
no  fancy  one.  The  insults  exchanged  were  no  light  ones,  and 
the  combatants  were  determined  they  should  be  washed  out  in 
blood.  The  fight  was  sharp,  but  Sir  Robert  was  no  match  for 
his  antagonist.  Fitzwilliam  sent  his  adversary's  weapon  flying 
from  his  grasp,  and  then  ran  him  through  the  left  arm. 

Sir  Robert  was  no  more  fortunate  in  his  lawsuit  than  in 
his  fencing.  In  spite  of  his  anxiety  to  display  his  zeal  for  the 
French  king,  his  influence  at  court  visibly  declines,  while  that 
of  his  brother  rapidly  increases.  But  now  the  farce  is  over, 
and  the  curtain  rises  on  the  tragi-comedy  indeed. 

Towards  the  end  of  1556  Thomas  Stafford  became  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  he  was  a  great  lord,  and  the  heir- 
presumptive  to  the  throne  of  England.     Upon  what  grounds 


g6  Thomas  Stafford's  Pretensions. 

he  founded  his  claim  it  would  be  difficult  to  say,  for  even  in 
his  own  family  he  appears  to  have  been  the  younger  brother. 
That  he  was  connected  with  the  royal  family  is  certain,  but 
this  alliance  was  only  on  the  distaff  side.  Indeed  his  claim 
does  not  bear  one  moment's  serious  consideration.  Sir  Robert 
dismissed  it  very  summarily,  and  among  the  other  items  of  the 
dispute  with  his  brother  he  called  him  a  traitor,  because  his 
claim  was  in  prejudice  of  the  right  of  the  Queen  of  Scots.  Of 
Elizabeth  no  one  said  a  word. 

None  the  less  Thomas  Stafford  was  very  careful  to  inform 
all  strangers  who  came  to  court  of  his  high  rank  and  future 
destiny.  They  must  have  taken  him  for  a  curious  person  and 
probably  laughed  freely  at  him  behind  his  back.  The 
English  refugees,  at  any  rate,  made  very  merry  about  him  and 
all  his  doings.  Stafford's  familiar  and  chief  counsellor  was 
one  Stowell,  and  this  man  they  at  once  dubbed  the  "  Lord 
High  Treasurer." 

It  seems,  therefore,  very  strange  that  the  King  of  France 
humoured  Stafford,  and  seemed  to  give  some  countenance  to 
his  pretensions.  He  probably  found  the  poor  man  amusing 
enough,  quite  as  entertaining  as  a  court  jester.  He  may  also 
have  thought  of  making  some  use  of  the  man.  Strange  things 
had  already  happened  in  England,  and  why  should  not  Thomas 
Stafford  succeed  as  well  as  Henry  of  Eichmond  ?  Given  a 
discontented  and  a  rebellious  people,  the  way  to  the  throne 
seemed  easy  to  any  pretender  who  could  excite  popular  favour. 
Courtenay  being  dead  and  gone,  this  hot-headed  young  man 
might  constitute  a  useful  substitute  for  the  unhappy  earl. 

Whatever  may  have  been  his  reasons,  Henry  smiled  very 
graciously  upon  this  aspiring  gentleman.  To  him  and  Dudley 
he  gave  sumptuous  lodgings  at  the  Court  at  Saint  Germain 
en  Laye,  and  supplied  them  liberally  with  money. 

Basking  in  the  sunshine  of  the  royal  favour,  Stafford's 
pretensions  and  arrogance  no  longer  knew  any  bounds.  He  at 
once  assumed  the  royal  arms  of  England  as  his  device,  and 
began  to  live  in  the  most  sumptuous  fashion. 


The  Exiles  in  France.  97 

Having  once  formulated  his  claim,  Stafford  could  not  rest 
until  he  had  made  it  good.  His  brain  being  once  fired  with 
the  idea  he  must  needs  proceed  at  once  to  carry  it  into 
execution.  About  the  beginning  of  April,  1557,  he  left 
Saint  Germain  for  Paris,  where  he  seems  to  have  gone  in  order 
to  interview  the  French  king.  He  declared  to  Henry  his 
intention  of  invading  England,  informed  the  king  once  more 
of  his  strong  claims  to  the  English  throne,  and  endeavoured  to 
induce  him  to  render  him  assistance,  for,  he  added,  he  was 
certain  to  find  an  army  of  followers  in  England.  Henry 
endeavoured  to  dissuade  him  from  the  foolish  project,  showed 
him  how  impossible  it  was,  and  declared  he  would  infallibly  be 
beheaded  if  he  persisted.  The  king  finally  declared  that  he 
would  give  him  neither  'men  nor  money,  although,  on  the  other 
hand,  Wotton  asserts  that  Stafford  received  money  to  retain 
soldiers  for  his  expedition. 

From  this  interview  Stafford  went  away  discouraged,  but 
desperate.  He  was  determined  at  all  hazards  to  carry  his  plan 
into  execution.  While  still  at  Paris  he  came  across  a  merchant 
who  agreed  to  supply  him  with  munitions  of  war  and  provisions 
for  two  hundred  men.  Still  pushing  on  Ins  preparations,  he 
hired  a  boat  to  carry  these  stores  to  Rouen,  and  having 
collected  a  small  company  of  twenty-five  followers,  and  having 
loaded  his  vessel  with  as  many  halberds,  he  set  sail  down 
the  river. 

Arrived  at  Eouen,  Stafford  caused  the  drum  to  be  beaten 
in  the  town  in  order  to  summon  together  those  who  were 
willing  to  share  his  fortunes.  Whether  persuaded  by  the 
eloquence  of  Stafford  himself  or  by  the  arms  of  England  which 
he  displayed,  or  by  the  statements  of  Rybawde,  Stafford's  chief 
captain,  who  declared  that  the  expedition  was  destined  for 
Scotland,  some  four  or  five  hundred  men  joined  themselves  to 
him.  A  motley  crowd  they  must  have  been,  of  desperate  and 
reckless  adventurers  of  the  worst  character.  Their  nationality 
was  also  mixed,  for  Frenchmen  and   Scots  were  almost  as 

H 


9$  Stafford's  preparations. 

numerous  as  the  English.  With  this  troop  of  men,  assembled 
anyhow,  Stafford  proceeded  to  Dieppe,  where  two  ships  awaited 
him.  The  one  was  loaded  with  artillery  and  stores,  the  other 
was  destined  for  the  larger  portion  of  the  troops  Stafford  was 
to  take  with  him. 

Preparations  were  pushed  forward  with  such  rapidity,  that 
at  night  on  Easter  Sunday  Stafford  and  his  following  put  to 
sea.  The  command  of  his  ship,  the  Fleur  de  Lys,  and  of  the 
expedition  was  entrusted  to  John  Eybawde,  a  man  of  whom 
Wotton  said  that  "  he  feared  him  more  than  any  of  those  who 
had  recently  fled  out  of  England." 

Stafford  had  purposely  kept  the  destination  of  his  expedition 
a  secret.  Probably  no  one  but  himself  and  Rybawde  knew 
where  they  were  going,  not  even  the  other  members  of  the 
company.  Wotton,  who  had  information  on  almost  all  the 
other  details,  remained  completely  in  the  dark  on  this  point. 
He  was  afraid  that  they  meditated  an  attack  upon  Calais,  but 
thought  it  likely  that  they  might  make  a  descent  upon  such 
places  as  Hull,  Scarborough,  or  Dover.  The  situation  seemed 
to  him  to  be  disquieting,  for  he  thought  that  if  Stafford  gained 
a  footing  in  England,  all  the  English  in  France  would  probably 
be  sent  to  his  aid,  while  malcontents  at  home  would  infallibly 
join  him.  At  Dieppe,  on  the  other  hand,  Eybawde's  version  of 
the  story  obtained  general  credence,  and  it  was  universally 
believed  that  the  Fleur  de  Lys  and  her  consort  were  on  their 
way  to  Scotland. 

While  these  speculations  were  being  made  as  to  his  where- 
abouts, Stafford  was  running  across  the  North  Sea,  and  before 
many  hours  had  passed  the  news  spread  that  he  had  taken 
possession  of  Scarborough  Castle.  This  place  seems  to  have 
been  in  his  mind  from  the  very  beginning.  During  the  first 
days  of  this  month  of  April,  one  of  his  servants  had  brought 
a  plan  of  the  town  to  the  French  king,  and  had  offered  to 
make  His  Majesty  master  of  it. 

Several  reasons  may  have  combined  to  induce  Stafford  to 


The  Exiles  in  France.  99 

select  this  point  of  attack.  Scarborough  was  then  a  strong- 
castle,  but  negligently  guarded  by  its  captain,  who  was  a 
kinsman  of  the  servant  referred  to  above.  The  port  was  large 
and  capacious,  affording  anchorage  for  some  fifty  or  sixty 
vessels  of  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  burthen. 
Moreover,  since  Stafford  relied  more  on  those  who  should  rise 
to  follow  him  than  on  the  handful  of  men  he  had  brought 
with  him,  a  place  so  distant  from  the  centre  of  government 
offered  obvious  and  indisputable  advantages.  But  more  than 
all  this,  his  mind  probably  reverted  to  the  fourth  Henry  and 
the  fourth  Edward,  who,  landing  in  the  same  neighbourhood 
with  a  following  equally  insignificant,  had  in  a  few  weeks 
rendered  themselves  masters  of  the  whole  realm,  and  kings  of 
England. 

Filled  with  such  dreams  as  these,  and  already  seeing  him- 
self seated  upon  the  throne,  Stafford  put  forth  a  proclamation, 
which  he  felt  sure  would  rally  the  English  people  round  him  in 
a  general  revolt  against  the  unpopular  government  of  the 
queen.  In  this  document  he  declared  that  Mary  had  forfeited 
her  right  to  rule  the  country,  because  she  had  no  sympathy 
with  its  people.  By  her  unpopular  marriage  she  had  made 
herself  altogether  a  Spaniard.  He  had  therefore  come  to  free 
his  countrymen  from  the  yoke  of  the  Spaniards,  and  save  them 
from  their  threatened  slavery.  From  papers  seized  at  Dieppe 
he  now  had  in  his  possession  proofs  that  twelve  thousand 
Spaniards  were  about  to  take  possession  of  Scarborough,  and 
of  twelve  other  places.  He  therefore  called  upon  all  English- 
men to  aid  him  in  vindicating  their  common  liberties.  But, 
alas  for  Thomas  Stafford's  dreams,  for  the  awakening  came 
swiftly  and  suddenly.  The  same  despatches  that  contained 
the  news  of  the  fall  of  Scarborough  Castle  brought  also  the 
tidings  of  its  recapture. 

Among  the  first  who  heard  of  the  arrival  and  vainglorious 
proclamation  of  Stafford  was  the  Earl  of  "Westmorland,  a 
zealous  friend  of  the  government.     This  nobleman,  hastily 


ioo  Stafford's  Fate. 

collecting  the  militia  of  the  neighbourhood,  came  suddenly 
upon  the  rebels  and  their  self-styled  king.  The  surprise  was 
complete,  and  almost  every  man  of  the  party,  including 
Stafford  himself,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  earl  and  his 
followers.  Thus,  as  Noailles  wrote  in  his  disgust,  Stafford  had 
allowed  himself  to  be  taken  in  an  impregnable  castle  by  a  band 
of  raw  peasants,  ungeneraled  and  without  artillery. 

The  retribution  for  treason  came  swiftly,  and  without 
mercy.  The  majority  were  executed  on  the  spot,  or  close  to 
it ;  Stafford  only  and  four  others  were  reserved  for  examina- 
tion, and  sent  on  to  London.  Rybawde  apparently  escaped, 
for  his  name  is  not  recorded  in  the  list  of  those  executed, 
preserved  for  us  by  Machyn.  On  the  5th  of  May  Stafford  and 
his  four  companions  arrived  at  the  Tower  of  London.  Here 
all  courage  forsook  the  unhappy  man.  In  the  vain  hope  of 
saving  his  life  he  promised  to  disclose  some  remarkable  facts 
about  the  dealings  of  the  French,  and  declared  that  he  had 
been  prompted  to  attack  Scarborough  by  King  Henry,  who 
had  been  egging  him  on  for  the  past  three  months.  Later  on, 
however,  seeing  that  nothing  could  save  his  head,  and  prompted 
by  nobler  feelings,  he  spoke  what  must  have  been  the  truth  : 
that  he  had  talked  of  his  project  to  King  Henry  and  his 
Court,  who  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  so  that  in  des- 
peration he  had  undertaken  the  expedition  alone.  This  resolute 
attitude  Stafford  maintained  to  the  end.  He  had  at  last  realized 
that  no  mercy  could  be  expected  from  his  judges.  He  obtained 
none  ;  and  on  Friday,  the  28th  of  March,  he  suffered  the 
extreme  penalty  on  Tower  Hill.  On  the  scaffold  he  addressed 
a  few  words  to  the  assembled  crowd.  His  unhappy  position, 
he  declared,  arose  from  his  disobedience  to  his  father  and 
mother.  He  died  a  good  Englishman,  and  he  had  had  no 
other  design  than  to  restore  to  his  country  her  former  freedom. 
As  for  the  king  and  queen,  he  did  not  consider  that  he  had 
wronged  them,  and  therefore  he  refused  to  ask  their  pardon. 
These  last  words,  if  we  may  believe  Noailles,  so  angered  Mary 


The  Exiles  in  France.  101 

that  she  ordered  Stafford's  remains  to  be  disinterred  and 
quartered,  a  dishonour  that  had  not  been  proposed  in  the 
original  sentence. 

When  the  news  of  Stafford's  short  success  and  tragic  end 
reached  France  no  surprise  was  felt.  Dudley  and  his  com- 
panions, who  had  never  taken  the  matter  seriously,  cracked 
jokes  at  the  expense  of  the  "  King  of  Scarborough,"  as  they 
called  him,  and  asked  what  else  could  be  expected  of  a  man 
who  acted  upon  the  advice  of  such  a  counsellor  as  "  Lord  High 
Treasurer  "  Stowell. 

The  King  of  France,  however,  realized  that  the  matter  was 
a  serious  one,  and  dreaded  lest  the  war  he  had  so  long  been 
seeking  to  escape  should  at  last  have  become  inevitable.  He 
could  not  succeed  in  concealing  his  uneasiness  and  chagrin. 
Meeting  Soranzo,  the  Venetian  envoy,  soon  after  the  news  had 
been  reported,  he  drew  him  aside  and  said,  "  You  must  have 
heard  what  that  fool  Thomas  Stafford  has  done  in  England. 
Before  his  departure  he  came  to  me  in  this  very  chamber  where 
we  now  are,  and,  leaning  against  that  balcony,  he  narrated 
to  me  these  projects  of  his,  praying  and  exhorting  me  to  give 
him  aid  and  counsel.  But  I  told  him  frankly  that  he  must 
expect  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  from  me,  for  I  know  very 
well  the  nature  and  habits  of  the  English.  So  I  bade  him 
beware,  and  warned  him  that  he  would  inevitably  lose  his 
head,  if  he  persisted  in  these  opinions  of  his.  But  he  appeared 
quite  bent  upon  carrying  them  into  effect,  telling  me  that  he 
had  a  strong  claim  to  the  crown,  and  that  he  should  find  many 
followers  in  England.  After  he  had  left  me,  the  first  news 
I  heard  of  him  was  that  he  had  been  captured  and  taken  to 
London." 

In  this  way  Henry  expressed  his  discontent  and  apprehen- 
sion, for,  although  he  did  not  actually  say  so  in  set  terms,  it  is 
very  evident  that  he  felt  ill  at  ease,  and  feared  the  worst  from 
the  English  side.    Nor  was  he  deceived. 

Beyond  a  doubt,  the  principal  end  Charles  had   in  view 


102  Mary's  Hostility  to  France. 

in  marrying  his  son  and  heir  to  a  woman  so  much  older  than 
himself  was  to  secure  the  alliance  of  England  in  the  great 
struggle  against  France.  Although  Philip  was  a  man  of  peace 
rather  than  a  warrior,  he  fully  entered  into  these  projects  of 
his  father,  and  hoped  to  draw  England  into  the  continental 
war  in  the  interests  of  his  family.  So  devoted  a  wife  as  Mary 
had  no  wish  but  to  please  her  husband,  in  this  respect  as  in 
others.  However  much  her  duty  towards  her  subjects  may 
have  restrained  the  queen  from  plunging  into  a  war  in  which 
they  were  in  no  way  interested,  this  feeling,  if  it  ever  existed, 
rapidly  disappeared.  The  hardly  disguised  assistance  afforded 
by  Henry  to  English  rebels  and  conspirators,  their  princely 
reception  and  entertainment  at  court,  of  which  the  queen  was 
perfectly  aware,  together  with  the  suspected  designs  against 
Calais,  goaded  the  queen  to  such  a  pitch  of  anger,  that,  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  she  had  forgotten  the  courteous 
behaviour  of  diplomacy,  and  had  failed  to  conceal  the  fact  that 
she  knew  all  the  French  king  was  doing.  As  has  been 
recorded  above,  during  an  interview  with  Noailles  she  once 
so  far  lost  control  over  herself  that  her  face  became  quite  dis- 
torted with  rage.  At  the  time  of  the  Dudley  conspiracy  the 
French  ambassador  thought  it  prudent  to  retire  from  Court  for 
a  time,  in  order  to  escape  arrest  as  an  aider  and  abettor  of  the 
rebels.  The  queen's  anger  against  France  was  so  evident  that 
the  Venetian  envoy,  Michiel,  was  of  opinion  that  she  was  only 
deterred  from  declaring  war  by  the  slenderness  of  her  purse, 
and  because  she  knew  that  in  this  matter,  as  in  many  others, 
she  could  not  rely  upon  the  fidelity  and  allegiance  of  her 
subjects.  The  English  people,  indeed,  guarded  very  jealously 
the  maintenance  of  the  neutrality  of  their  country,  and  were 
very  suspicious  of  the  intentions  of  their  sovereigns  in  this 
respect.  They  were  determined  to  resist  to  the  uttermost  any 
attempt  to  employ  English  forces  and  resources  in  a  war  from 
which  the  country  could  gain  no  advantage,  and  one  of  the 
principal  articles  in  the  marriage  treaty  with  Ph  ilip  had  been 


TJie  Exiles  in  France.  103 

designed  in   order  to  prevent    the   possibility   of    any  such 
event. 

While  the  temper  of  the  English  people  remained  in  this 
state  it  would  have  been  madness  for  the  queen  to  have  broken 
with  France,  however  much  she  might  have  desired  it.     In 
this  posture  of   affairs  the  invasion  of  Stafford  came  to  her 
assistance,  and  did  more  to  further  her  plans  than  any  cunningly 
devised  statecraft  could  have  done.     Although  the  invasion  of 
Scarborough  had  tempted  some  few  malcontents  to  revolt,  they 
discovered  themselves  only  to  suffer  from  the  vengeance  of  the 
government.     But  very  different  feelings  possessed  the  large 
mass  of  the  nation.     For  them  the  attempt  of  Stafford  was 
an  insult  to  our  shores,  carried  out  with  the  help  of  a  foreign 
power.     All  the  rabid  hatred  of  the  English  against  foreigners 
was  excited  by  this  ridiculous  little  expedition.     The  govern- 
ment suddenly  found  its  hands  enormously  strengthened,  and 
became  indeed  almost  popular.      The  much-desired   moment 
had  at  length  come,  and  Mary  hastened  to  take  advan  tage  of 
it.     On  the  1st  of  June,  or  little  more  than  a  month  after 
Stafford  had  landed  in  the  north,  she  declared  war  against  the 
French  king  because  he  had  harboured  and  assisted  English 
rebels,  and  provoked  the  recent  invasion  of  the  English  shores. 
Reasons  so  slight  might  induce  a  disinterested  observer  like 
the  Venetian  Surian  to  infer  that  the  war  had  been  undertaken 
solely  in  the  interests  of  Philip.     But  the  English,  blinded  by 
their  passionate  hatred  of  foreign  interference,  could  not  see 
this.     After  the  affair  of   Scarborough,  they    were   ready  to 
believe  all  their  governors  told  them  about  the  French  king 
and  Dudley's  plots,  and  if  they  did  not  take  up  the  war  with 
enthusiasm,  they  nevertheless  considered  it  just  and  necessary 
for  the  defence  of  their  country. 

Reflection  might  bring  them  other  counsels,  but  then  it 
would  be  too  late.  With  the  sagacity  of  a  clever  ruler,  Mary 
had  seized  upon  the  right  moment  in  which  to  act,  and  had 
committed  the  nation  to  a  war  in  which  she  hoped  the  combined 


104  Fate  °f  the  Exiles. 

arms  of  Spain  and  England  would  win  victories  that  would 
cover  her  much-loved  husband  with  glory. 

But  now  that  war  was  actually  raging  between  the  two 
countries,  what  became  of  the  English  refugees  in  France  ? 
That  is  a  question  which  cannot  be  answered  from  the  evidence 
in  our  possession.  As  the  year  1557  advanced,  they  began  to 
feel  that  a  war  between  England  and  France  was  approaching, 
and  the  prospect  filled  them  with  alarm.  Many  of  them 
besought  Wotton  to  intercede  for  them,  if  by  any  means 
they  might  obtain  their  pardon.  Apparently  their  efforts 
proved  unsuccessful,  for  no  record  of  any  such  pardons  exists. 
The  refugees  themselves  disappear  from  our  view.  In  the 
great  whirl  of  a  European  war  they  are  lost  to  sight,  and 
their  petty  squabbles  fade  away  in  the  presence  of  the  far  more 
important  issues  they  had  helped  to  raise. 

But  we  need  not  regret  this  gap  in  our  annals.  Dudley 
and  his  companions  are  important  only  because  of  the  tendencies 
they  represent,  and  of  the  war  they  helped  to  kindle.  Their 
personalities,  apart  from  these  points,  are  neither  noble  nor 
interesting,  and  it  is  therefore  without  a  pang  that  we  may 
leave  their  fate  in  the  oblivion  to  which  it  has  been  consigned 
by  history. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   NBW   SPIRIT    IX    ENGLAND. 

While  so  much  English  thought  and  activity  were  being  spent 
abroad,  in  so  many  various  ways,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  these  sentiments  in  religion  and  politics  which 
we  have  followed  among  the  exiles  found  no  echo  in  England 
herself.  In  spite  of  years  of  Tudor  absolutism  and  passive 
obedience,  the  ancient  virtue  was  not  yet  dead,  nor  was  the 
flame  of  liberty  extinguished.  At  the  same  time,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  extreme  men  were  those  who  went  into  exile, 
while  those  who  remained  behind  were  quieter  and  more 
submissive.  Yet  the  diplomatists  of  the  sixteenth  century  are 
unanimous  in  condemning  the  inconstancy  of  the  English  of 
their  time,  and  their  impatience  under  government.  French, 
Venetian,  and  Spanish  ambassadors  all  agree  upon  this  point, 
and  it  is  impossible  not  to  accept  such  united  testimony  from 
such  different  sources.  "  The  English  are  malignant,  double- 
faced,  easy  to  stir  up,  and  fit  for  conspiracies,"  writes  Renard. 
Xoailles  agrees  with  him  in  almost  every  particular,  and  adds 
that  (like  dogs)  they  are  most  ill-humoured  during  the  hot 
weather.  Michiel  asserts  that  they  could  never  support  one 
government  for  any  length  of  time  together,  and  his  fellow- 
countrymen,  Soranzo  and  Surian,  follow  suit  with  similar 
observations.  Such  a  consensus  of  opinion  compels  us  to 
believe  the  accuracy  of  this  evil  picture  of  our  ancestors  even 


Io6  Restlessness  of  the  English. 

But  the  restlessness  of  Englishmen  in  the  sixteenth  century 
may  readily  be  accounted  for.  The  baneful  results  of  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses  still  made  themselves  felt.  The  crown,  having 
once  stooped  to  mix  in  a  private  quarrel,  was  destined  to  suffer 
the  penalty  for  many  long  years.  Rebellion  and  civil  war  had 
grown  out  of  this  fatal  mistake,  and  these  noxious  weeds  of 
discord  flourished  exceedingly  on  our  soil.  Even  the  strong 
government  of  the  Tudors  had  failed  to  root  them  out  entirely. 
Henry  VII.  had  had  his  Lambert  Simnel  and  Perkin  Warbeck, 
Henry  VIII.  had  his  pilgrimage  of  grace,  and  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.,  if  not  disturbed  by  such  serious  risings,  had  to 
meet  the  disturbances  of  1549  and  many  local  riots. 

The  leading  part  in  all  these  revolts  had  been  taken  by  the 
younger  members  of  the  lesser  nobility  and  gentry.  High- 
spirited  and  impatient,  they  had  led  the  way,  while  their  in- 
feriors were  ever  ready  to  follow.  The  part  they  playe  d  during 
this  period  naturally  exposed  them  to  the  vengeance  of  the 
government,  and  there  were  few  families  of  this  class  that  had 
not  to  deplore  the  death  of  one  or  more  of  their  members  on  a 
charge  of  high  treason.  This  state  of  affairs,  which  had  existed 
in  England  for  nearly  one  hundred  years,  is  curiously  and 
graphically  illustrated  by  an  anecdote  related  by  a  Mantuan 
gentleman  named  Annibale  Litolfi.  Walking  one  day  with  a 
couple  of  Englishmen,  he  asked  one  of  them  if  any  of  his 
relations  had  ever  been  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered.  Upon 
the  answer  being  given  in  the  negative,  the  other  whispered 
in  Litolfi's  ear,  "  Do  not  be  astonished  ;  he  does  not  come  of 
a  noble  family  "  ! 

In  1553,  however,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  nation 
appeared  far  more  ready  to  submit  to  a  regular  hereditary 
sovereign  than  it  had  been  ever  since  the  Yorkists  began  to 
make  a  bid  for  the  throne.  Fifty  years  of  strong  government, 
with  an  unintermittent  succession  of  sovereigns  of  the  same 
line,  whose  claim  remained  uncontested,  had  not  passed  in  vain. 
After  so  many  years  of  discord  and  rebellion,  the  people  seemed 


The  New  Spirit  in  E)igland.  107 

disposed  to  accept  gratefully  and  gladly  the  legitimate  heir  to 
the  throne.  Mary's  well-known  Catholic  proclivities  were 
naturally  distasteful  to  zealous  Protestants.  Those  who  were 
most  compromised  in  the  reign  of  her  brother  took  an  early 
opportunity  of  leaving  the  country,  but  the  majority  remained 
in  England  to  welcome  and  obey  their  new  sovereign,  waving 
their  objections  to  her  religion  as  of  less  importance  than  the 
maintenance  of  the  succession.  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton 
has  left  us  some  lines  which  undoubtedly  express  correctly, 
though  not  elegantly,  the  sentiments  of  thousands  of  others. 
His  effusion  runs  as  follows — 

"  And  though  I  lik'd  not  the  religion 
Which  all  her  life  Queen  Mary  had  profest, 
Yet  in  my  mind  that  wicked  motion, 
Right  heiress  for  to  displace  I  did  detest." 

The  consequence  of  the  public  state  of  mind  gave  a  zest 
to  the  acclamations  at  Queen  Mary's  accession,  hitherto  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  the  nation.  "  The  affection  of  the 
people  evinced  towards  the  queen  at  the  beginning  of  her  reign 
was  such  and  so  extraordinary  that  never  was  greater  shown 
in  that  kingdom  (England)  towards  any  sovereign."  Such  is 
the  testimony  of  the  Venetian  Michiel,  an  eye-witness  of  what 
he  describes,  than  whom  no  one  was  more  competent  to  make 
correct  observation  of  the  state  of  the  public  mind.  What 
a  different  story  he  had  to  write  a  few  years  later,  what  a 
change  from  the  acclamations  of  1553  to  the  hatred,  "  not  loud 
but  deep,"  of  1557  !  Michiel  spent  almost  all  this  time  in 
England,  he  had  every  opportunity  of  noting  this  revolution 
of  opinion,  and  of  estimating  its  causes,  and  to  his  pregnant 
comments  we  shall  have  frequent  recourse  in  the  following 
pages. 

How  did  it  happen  that  Mary  threw  away  so  completely 
and  so  irremediably  the  popularity  that  met  her  when  she 
mounted  the  throne  ?  What  causes  contributed  to  dark  en  her 
reign  when  the  prospect  had  been  so  bright    at  its  beginning  ? 


108  English  Hostility  to  Foreigners. 

She  was  not  destitute  of  the  talents  of  a  ruler.  She  knew 
when  to  be  firm  and  when  to  yield,  she  was  a  Tudor  to  the 
backbone,  and  possessed  in  a  large  degree  the  tact  and  address 
of  her  family.  But  she  made  one  fatal  blunder,  irremediable 
in  its  nature,  and  tremendous  in  its  consequences.  On  a 
vital  question  she  persisted  in  acting  contrary  to  the  wishes 
of  practically  the  whole  of  her  subjects,  and  this  one  fatal  act 
of  obstinacy  rendered  all  subsequent  concessions  useless.  The 
unpopularity  of  the  queen  and  the  misfortunes  of  her  reign  all 
date  from  her  marriage  with  Don  Philip  of  Spain. 

To  this  day  Englishmen  are  repeatedly  accused  of  an 
excessive  insularity.  In  the  sixteenth  century  this  characteristic 
must  have  been  even  more  strongly  marked.  The  same 
witnesses  who  accuse  our  ancestors  of  fickleness  and  readi- 
ness to  revolt,  combine  with  equal  unanimity  to  tax  them  with 
an  excessive  abhorrence  of  foreigners.  "  The  English  are 
naturally  enemies  of  all  aliens,  but  they  hate  the  French  and 
Spaniards  most  of  all,"  wrote  Annibale  Litolfi  in  1557.  "  The 
nobility  are  indeed  courteous,"  said  Soranzo,  "  but  the  people 
treat  foreigners  with  very  great  arrogance  and  hostility.  They 
think  the  profit  gained  by  merchants  is  so  much  taken  from 
them,  and  imagine  they  can  live  without  foreign  intercourse." 
Michiel  declared  that  aliens  could  not  possibly  obtain  justice 
in  the  courts  of  law,  so  great  was  the  prejudice  against  them. 
Examples  of  a  similar  kind  might  easily  be  multiplied,  but  the 
above  will  suffice  to  illustrate  my  point. 

What  was  then  the  anger,  indignation,  and  alarm  of  the 
people  when  they  heard  that  their  queen  intended  to  marry 
the  Prince  of  Spain  !  How  much  they  must  have  suffered  to 
think  that  England  was  in  danger  of  being  added  as  a  province 
to  an  all-grasping  empire  already  grown  too  large  ! 

As  usual  the  young  nobles  and  gentlemen  of  the  country 
were  the  first  to  rise  in  opposition.  "We  have  seen  how  many 
of  them  crossed  the  sea  to  fight  the  Spaniard  under  the  banner 
of   the   French  king.     Not  a  few  of  those   who   remained 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  109 

behind  would  gladly  have  done  likewise.  The  national  hatred 
of  the  Spaniards  rose  to  fever  heat,  and  amounted  almost  to 
madness.  It  was  in  vain  that  Mary  endeavoured  to  reconcile 
her  subjects  to  the  match  by  rich  presents.  The  tact  and 
sagacity  of  Philip  in  observing  to  the  letter  the  marriage  con- 
tract, and  in  curbing  the  arrogance  of  his  Spanish  followers, 
were  likewise  thrown  away.  He  may  have  gained  some  friends 
for  himself  by  this  means,  but  none  for  his  fellow-countrymen. 
Those  who  came  with  Egmont  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating 
the  marriage  were  so  ill  received  that  they  resolved  never  to 
set  foot  in  this  country  again.  Wyatt  revolted  with  no  other 
purpose  than  to  prevent  the  dreaded  union,  and  the  rebellion 
could  only  be  crushed  after  the  queen  had  promised  to  submit 
the  question  to  Parliament.  But  his  cause  remained  so  popular 
that,  when  he  was  executed,  numbers  of  people  dipped  their 
handkerchiefs  in  his  blood. 

But  the  ill  will  of  the  English  did  not  end  here.  In  the 
Low  Countries,  where  men  of  both  nations  met  together,  there 
were  continual  brawls  and  riots  between  the  young  English 
nobles  and  their  retainers,  and  the  Spaniards.  But  in  1555, 
while  Philip  and  his  queen  were  staying  at  Hampton  Court, 
even  worse  things  happened.  Affrays  took  place  between  the 
retainers  of  both  sovereigns  with  startling  frequency.  So 
serious  were  they  that  several  persons  on  either  side  received 
serious  hurts  and  some  had  been  killed.  Worsted  in  almost 
every  encounter,  the  rage  and  madness  of  the  Englishmen 
knew  no  bounds.  Exasperated  beyond  measure  at  some  wounds 
received  by  one  of  their  companions,  they  resolved  to  be 
avenged.  On  Corpus  Christi  day  matters  came  to  a  head. 
Assembling  in  great  force,  they  marched  towards  the  Church 
where  the  Spaniards  were  all  collected  in  order  to  celebrate  the 
festival.  More  than  double  the  number  of  their  adversaries,  it 
was  feared  that  the  English  would  massacre  them  on  the  spot. 
Men  feared  a  repetition  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  What  might 
have  happened  it  is  impossible  to  guess.     Fortunately  some 


no  Opposition  to  the   Spanish  Match. 

intrepid  but  unnamed  persons  threw  themselves  in  front  of 
the  irate  procession,  and  by  their  arguments  succeeded,  though 
with  the  greatest  difficulty,  in  persuading  their  angry  country- 
men to  go  quietly  home. 

The  danger  had  been  sufficiently  imminent,  for  if  the 
English  had  carried  their  purpose  into  execution,  the  conse- 
quences must  have  been  serious  and  far  reaching.  Philip 
recognized  the  peril  of  the  situation.  He  at  once  hastened  to 
issue  a  proclamation  declaring  that  any  Spaniard  who  ventured 
to  use  his  weapon  should  lose  his  right  hand,  while  any  one 
who  should  cry  "  Spain  "  was  to  be  promptly  hanged. 

The  danger  in  this  instance  had  been  avoided,  but  the  evil 
situation  remained  unremedied.  Men's  minds  were  in  a 
dangerous  state  of  tension,  and  it  seemed  as  if  a  very  small 
push  would  suffice  to  upset  the  balance  of  the  government. 
The  air  was  full  of  treasons  and  conspiracies,  and  as  the  queen 
could  rely  on  no  man,  she  suspected  all. 

The  opposition  to  the  Spanish  marriage  was  no  less  general 
than  intense.  Even  some  of  the  most  devoted  adherents  of 
the  queen  were  against  it.  Gardiner  resisted  as  long  as  he 
could,  and  only  at  the  last  moment  did  he  give  an  unwilling 
consent.  Sir  Edward  Hastings,  the  Master  of  the  Horse,  and 
the  queen's  most  devoted  partisan,  vehemently  advised  her  to 
abandon  the  project.  Even  those  who  had  supported  the 
alliance  had  misgivings.  Paget  proposed  to  neutralize  the  evil 
consequences  by  uniting  Elizabeth  and  Courtenay,  and  causing 
them  to  be  proclaimed  heirs.  Sir  John  Mansone,  upon 
receiving  some  slight  from  Philip,  bitterly  exclaimed,  "  If  he 
treats  those  who  supported  him  thus,  what  will  he  do  to  those 
who  have  resisted  him  ?  " 

Although  Mary  persisted  in  her  intention  to  marry  Don 
Philip,  it  may  easily  be  imagined  that  she  did  so  at  the  expense 
of  her  tranquillity  and  peace  of  mind.  Her  brain  was  haunted 
by  visions  of  her  discontented  and  rebellious  subjects.  In  June, 
1554,  while  awaiting  the  arrival  of  Philip,  she  so  dreaded  a 


Tlie  New  Spirit  in  England.  1 1 1 

rising  in  the  capital,  which  she  had  recently  deceived  by  false 
promises,  that  she  placed  a  garrison  of  four  thousand  troops 
there.  The  continual  fear  of  conspirators,  who  were  always 
at  work,  made  her  life  a  burden  to  her.  At  Hampton  Court, 
if  we  may  credit  Noailles,  besides  her  ordinary  guard,  she 
caused  twenty-five  to  thirty  gentlemen  to  sleep  in  the  presence- 
chamber  close  to  her  own  apartments.  Twice  every  night  this 
guard  extraordinary  made  the  tour  of  the  whole  palace. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  however,  that  none  of  the  numerous 
conspiracies  formed  during  the  reign  attained  to  serious 
dimensions.  Although  "Wyatt  had  at  one  moment  appeared 
dangerous,  he  had  been  easily  crushed  in  the  end.  The  French- 
man, De  Selva,  had  indeed  foreseen  this  from  the  beginning, 
and  declared  that  if  the  rebels  could  find  no  leader,  their  revolt 
would  be  a  fire  of  straw — of  no  duration.  This  is  what  literally 
happened.  One  by  one,  as  the  insurrections  of  Wyatt,  Carew, 
Dudley,  and  Stafford  crackled  into  a  flame,  they  were  promptly 
and  easily  stamped  out.  It  is  a  consolation  to  us  as  English- 
men, however,  to  know  that  all  resistance  was  not  so  easily 
crushed,  and  the  spirit  of  liberty  still  made  her  presence  felt  in 
the  country.  As  usual  in  England,  the  most  effective  and 
durable  opposition  to  the  government  was  made  in  a  perfectly 
constitutional  manner,  and  by  perfectly  constitutional  means. 

The  system  of  trial  by  jury,  though  condemned  as  vicious 
by  the  Venetian  Soranzo,  proved  then,  as  it  did  subsequently, 
a  valuable  protection  for  the  liberty  of  the  subject.  In  April, 
1556,  when  the  government,  in  its  alarm  at  the  formidable  plot 
of  Dudley  and  Assheton,  was  making  arrests  far  and  wide, 
convictions  could  only  be  obtained  against  two  persons,  Sir 
John  Throckmorton  and  Sir  Thomas  Uvedale,  governor  of  the 
Isle  of  Wight.  Earlier  in  the  reign  an  even  more  notable 
example  of  the  independence  of  the  juries  had  occurred.  This 
was  the  case  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  whose  verses  we 
have  quoted  above.  He  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  treason, 
and  conspiracy  to  place  Courtenay  and  Elizabeth  on  the  throne. 


112  The  Awakening  of  Parliament. 

After  a  long  trial,  in  which  the  Crown  did  its  utmost  to  procure 
a  conviction,  the  jury  acquitted  the  prisoner.  Mary  was 
furious.  Throckmorton,  though  pronounced  innocent,  was 
thrown  into  the  Tower.  The  offending  jurors  were  imprisoned 
and  heavily  fined.  But  they  had  won  a  great  victory.  The 
intended  victim  had  been  saved.  Mary  dared  not  go  further  ; 
the  people  already  murmured  ominously  at  her  violation  of  the 
law,  and  shortly  after  Throckmorton  was  set  free. 

But  more  important  even  than  the  attitude  of  the  juries 
were  the  growing  signs  of  the  awakening  of  Parliament  from 
its  long  lethargy.  The  rapid  growth  of  our  free  institutions 
under  the  House  of  Lancaster  is  one  of  the  commonplaces  of 
history.  Xo  less  so  is  the  eclipse  under  which  they  suffered 
after  the  triumph  of  the  Yorkists.  With  the  Lancastrian 
revival  under  Henry  VII.  Parliaments  were  again  called,  and 
made  to  transact  the  business  of  the  kingdom,  but  they  were 
kept  in  complete  subjection  to  the  will  of  the  sovereign.  Pre- 
cisely the  same  system  prevailed  under  Henry  VIIL,  who  on  one 
remarkable  occasion  went  out  of  his  way  to  confirm  an  im- 
portant privilege  of  the  Lower  House  in  person.  Still  Parlia- 
ment remained  under  royal  control  through  the  employment  of 
a  number  of  different  devices.  The  sovereigns  made  use  of 
them,  says  Michiel,  in  a  celebrated  passage,  "  more  to  cloak  by 
this  appearance  their  own  desires,  and  to  rid  themselves  of 
fatigue  and  inconvenience  in  consultations  on  doubtful  and 
detrimental  matters  concerning  perilous  affairs,  rather  than  to 
resign  any  power  they  possess."  This  passage,  written  towards 
the  end  of  the  reign,  describes  a  state  of  affairs  that  had 
already  begun  to  pass  away.  Our  modern  historians,  following 
Michiel,  have  treated  the  Parliaments  of  this  reign  almost  as  a 
blank.  Believing  that  their  annals  contained  nothing  but  a 
record  of  passive  obedience  to  the  royal  commands  from 
beginning  to  end,  they  have  passed  them  over  very  summarily 
as  insipid  and  uninteresting.  But  this  is  to  make  a  great 
mistake.   It  is  during  the  reign  of  Mary  that  the  revival  of  the 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  113 

old  parliamentary  spirit  begins,  a  spirit  that  in  a  few  years  was 
destined  to  become  active  and  aggressive. 

During  the  short  reign  of  Mary  no  less  than  five  Parlia- 
ments were  summoned  to  meet  at  Westminster  :  one  in  1553, 
two  in  1554,  one  in  1555,  and  the  last  not  till  1558.  The  long 
interval  between  the  summoning  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
Parliaments,  an  interval  of  two  years  and  three  months,  is 
exceedingly  significant.  But  this  is  to  anticipate.  A  subject 
of  such  importance  and  complexity  demands  orderly  and 
chronological  treatment,  and  I  propose  to  take  the  history  of 
each  of  the  Marian  Parliaments  one  by  one  in  the  order  in 
which  they  followed  each  other. 

Almost  as  soon  as  Mary  had  mounted  the  throne  she 
seems  to  have  determined  to  cany  out  the  changes  in  religion 
she  had  so  much  at  heart  by  means  of  Parliament.  Though 
the  emperor  advised  her  to  the  contrary,  the  queen  very  wisely 
persisted  in  her  resolution,  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  her 
reign  was  to  summon  the  two  Houses  to  meet  at  "Westminster 
on  the  5th  of  October,  1553.  The  care  taken  to  manage  the 
elections  met  with  conspicuous  success.  The  queen  had  a 
Parliament  upon  whose  obedience  and  tractability  she  could 
thoroughly  rely.  It  was  packed  with  Crown  nominees, 
Soranzo  declared,  and  therefore  the  proposed  changes  in 
religion  seemed  likely  to  be  passed  without  any  difficulty. 
Upon  the  first  day  of  the  session  Gardiner,  as  Lord  Chancellor, 
delivered  the  queen's  speech.  He  dwelt  upon  the  necessity  of 
unity  in  religion,  and  submitted  that  this  was  only  possible 
by  a  return  to  Catholicism.  The  queen  therefore  asked  her 
faithful  subjects  to  repeal  the  Protestant  enactments  of  the 
two  previous  reigns,  and  thus  help  to  bring  about  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  old  religion. 

The  Commons,  however,  did  not  exhibit  quite  so  much 
complaisance  as  had  been  expected  of  them.  When  one 
member  proposed  a  review  of  the  laws  of  Edward  VI.,  the 
motion  was  almost  immediately  put  on  one  side.     The  reaction 

1 


114  Parliament  of  1553. 

against  the  regime  of  the  two  previous  reigns,  however,  made 
itself  felt  in  the  Lower  House,  although  not  perhaps  in  the 
way  the  queen  intended.  At  one  blow  the  Commons  struck 
out  of  the  statute  book  all  the  additional  treasons  that  had 
been  invented  by  the  ingenuity  of  Henry  VIII. ,  expressing  at 
the  same  time  much  righteous  indignation  against  their  author, 
and  the  definition  of  treason  was  confined  within  the  limits  of 
the  Act  25,  Edward  III. 

Meanwhile  the  religious  question,  thus  neglected  by  the 
Lower  Chamber,  was  taken  up  by  the  Lords.  Thanks  un- 
doubtedly to  the  presence  of  the  spiritual  peers,  the  queen's 
wishes  met  here  with  a  more  favourable  reception.  No 
difficulties  were  raised,  the  Protestant  system  was  doomed,  and 
all  the  acts  of  Edward  VI.  about  religion  were  repealed 
together.  A  bill  to  this  effect  was  sent  down  to  the  Commons 
to  obtain  their  approval.  But  even  then  the  Lower  House 
did  not  facilitate  matters.  There  must  have  been  an  opposition 
party  of  no  mean  force  and  influence,  for  the  debate  on  this 
question  lasted  six  days.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  govern- 
ment party  triumphed.  The  recommendations  of  the  Lords 
passed  the  House,  which  added  that  from  the  20th  of  December 
following  no  other  form  of  Divine  Service  should  be  used  but 
that  in  force  during  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

So  far  all  had  gone  fairly  well.  Although  the  Commons 
might  have  exhibited  more  alacrity  in  carrying  out  the  wishes 
of  the  queen,  yet  they  had  complied  with  her  request  in  the 
end,  and  the  counter  reformation  might  be  considered  as  fairly 
commenced.  But  at  this  moment  appeared  a  question  which 
at  once  put  an  end  to  the  harmony  between  the  Court  and 
Parliament. 

The  Spanish  marriage  was  being  freely  talked  about,  and 
the  prospect  had  created  much  alarm  even  in  this  assembly  of 
picked  loyalists.  Whatever  else  they  might  be,  they  were  all 
Englishmen,  and  shared  the  hopes  and  fears  and  prejudices  of 
their  countrymen.     They  felt  that  the  proposed  match  would 


Tlie  New  Spirit  in  England.  115 

not  do,  that  their  liberty  was  menaced,  as  well  as  the  independence 
of  their  country,  and  they  resolved  to  protest.  They  therefore 
deputed  the  speaker  and  twenty  members  to  wait  upon  the 
queen,  to  humbly  request  her  in  the  name  of  her  faithful 
Commons  not  to  marry  a  foreigner.  At  the  same  time  they 
were  anxious  that  she  should  take  a  husband,  and  hoped  she 
would  choose  an  Englishman.  But  the  queen  flew  into  a 
passion  before  the  speaker  had  finished  his  discourse.  It  must 
indeed  have  been  hard  to  hear  such  language  from  the  House 
that  had  been  packed  with  such  care,  and  upon  whose  fidelity 
so  much  reliance  had  been  placed.  Mary  interrupted  the 
speaker's  discourse  with  true  Tudor  spirit  and  haughtiness. 
"  For  that  you  desire  to  see  us  married,"  she  said,  "  we  thank 
you.  Your  desire  to  dictate  to  us  the  consort  whom  we  shall 
choose  we  consider  somewhat  superfluous.  The  English 
Parliament  has  not  been  wont  to  use  such  language  to  its 
sovereigns,  and  when  private  persons  on  such  matters  suit 
their  own  tastes,  sovereigns  may  reasonably  be  allowed  to 
choose  whom  they  prefer."  After  a  few  more  words  in  the 
same  strain,  she  dismissed  the  astonished  deputies,  and  a  few 
days  later  (December  6)  Parliament  was  dissolved  after  a 
session  of  a  little  over  two  months. 

In  spite  of  the  trouble  taken  to  secure  its  submissiveness, 
this  Parliament  had  shown  a  spirit  not  unworthy  of  the 
glorious ;  traditions  of  its  predecessors.  The  reduction  of  the 
number  of  treasons  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  distinguish  it 
honourably,  although  most  of  the  additions  of  Henry  VIII. 
certainly  had  to  do  with  the  changes  in  religion.  In  the 
affair  of  the  Spanish  marriage,  although  they  were  undoubtedly 
grieved  at  the  construction  the  queen  put  upon  their  petition, 
they  had  acted  with  independence  and  worthily.  Even  in 
matters  of  religion  they  had  not  done  nearly  all  that  had  been 
expected  of  them.  After  much  delay  and  debate  they  had 
only  replaced  the  Prayer-book  by  the  Mass.  Mary  could  not 
possibly  rest  satisfied  with  such  a  state  of  affairs.     She  still 


n6  Mary's  Second  Parliament. 

retained  the  title  of  Supreme  Head  of  the  English  Church, 
while  the  claims  of  the  Pope  were  unrecognized.  More 
important  than  all,  the  financial  side  of  the  question,  the 
annates,  and  the  disposition  of  Church  property,  all  fruitful 
subjects  of  controversy,  had  not  been  touched  upon. 

The  relatively  poor  success  of  her  first  attempt  did  not 
discourage  Mary.  Almost  immediately  after  the  dissolution 
of  her  first  Parliament  she  caused  writs  to  be  issued  for 
another.  The  new  assembly  met  on  the  2nd  of  April,  1554. 
This  time  the  efforts  of  the  royal  officers  had  proved  more 
successful.  The  Parliament  was  as  obsequious  as  could  have 
been  desired,  and  completely  justifies  the  remarks  of  Michiel, 
quoted  above.  As  on  the  previous  occasion,  Gardiner  made 
a  great  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  session.  He  began  by 
saying  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  legislate  for  the 
surety  of  the  state  of  the  queen,  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
order  throughout  the  realm.  The  recent  insurrection  and  the 
widespread  discontent  made  this  imperative.  The  queen's  title 
to  reign  had  been  impugned  and  the  claims  of  other  persons 
advanced.  He  therefore  proposed  that  she  should  be  declared 
sovereign  by  right  of  heritage  according  to  the  old  formula. 

The  next  subject  of  importance  was  the  proposed  marriage 
with  Don  Philip  of  Spain.  Surely  it  was  the  irony  of  fate 
that  had  chosen  the  chancellor  to  advocate  this.  He  certainly 
put  forward  the  case  in  a  sufficiently  lame  way.  Two  lines  of 
argument  were  followed,  the  first  that  of  the  queen  herself, 
that  no  subject,  however  poor  and  miserable,  did  not  possess 
the  right  of  choosing  a  husband  for  herself.  The  other  was 
that,  to  secure  the  succession,  and  to  put  an  end  to  dangerous 
uncertainty,  the  queen  ought  to  have  children  of  her  own  to 
succeed  as  her  undoubted  heirs. 

Neither  of  these  arguments  rest  upon  a  particularly  sound 
basis,  and  it  is  not  worth  while  to  go  into  the  numerous 
objections  that  might  be  raised  against  tbem.  The  Parliament 
at  any  rate  mildly  and  obediently  listened  to  the  chancellor's 


The  New  Spirit  in  England,  117 

oration,  and  then  proceeded  to  do  all  that  was  required  of  it. 
The  speaker  introduced  a  bill  to  declare  that  the  royal  pre- 
rogative belonged  as  much  to  a  queen  as  to  a  king.  The 
Spanish  marriage  was  accepted  without  discussion.  All  that 
remained  to  be  done  was  to  define  the  position  of  the  new 
consort.  This  task  was  undertaken  by  the  Lords.  How 
thoroughly  they  performed  their  work  is  well  known.  Xothing 
could  be  more  strict  than  the  terms  of  the  treaty  which  limited 
the  powers  and  titles  of  Philip.  He  was  to  have  no  nominal 
share  in  the  government  of  the  country,  no  foreigner  could 
occupy  any  public  office  in  England,  for  they  were  to  be  filled 
by  Englishmen  alone.  The  country  was  to  be  dragged  into  no 
foreign  war  in  the  interests  of  its  new  king  or  his  dominions. 
In  fine,  the  only  chance  of  any  power  being  wielded  in  England 
by  the  Spanish  prince  was  the  prospect  of  the  regency  if  the 
queen  should  die  before  her  unborn  heir  came  to  years  of 
discretion. 

All  this,  however,  was  the  work  of  the  Upper  House.  The 
Commons  took  no  initiative,  and  simply  endorsed  the  proposi- 
tions of  the  Lords.  They  accepted  the  arrangements  as  to  the 
Spanish  marriage,  almost  without  discussion.  The  bill  came 
to  them  on  the  10th,  and  they  returned  it  on  the  12th.  This, 
and  the  passing  of  some  Bills  of  Attainder,  likewise  sent  down 
by  the  Lords,  finished  the  work  of  the  session.  On  the  5th  of 
May  the  queen  dissolved  one  of  the  most  colourless  and  un- 
interesting Parliaments  that  ever  existed.  The  Lords  alone,  by 
their  action  on  the  Spanish  marriage,  had  redeemed  it  from 
absolute  and  unrelieved  inanity. 

After  this  very  poor  exhibition  on  the  part  of  the  Commons, 
it  is  surprising  to  notice  the  astonishing  progress  made  in  the 
two  succeeding  Parliaments.  The  first  of  these  was  summoned 
for  the  11th  of  Xovember,  1554.  The  queen  adopted  all  the 
usual  measures  in  order  to  secure  a  loyal  and  obedient  House 
of  Commons,  directing  the  sheriffs  to  return  members  of  "  the 
wise,  grave,  and  Catholic  sort."     It  was  the  more  necessarv  that 


1 18  The  Catholic  Reaction, 

this  should  be  done,  since  the  new  Parliament  was  destined  to 
complete  the  work  of  the  Catholic  restoration,  left  unfinished  by 
the  Parliament  of  1553.  The  queen's  orders  were  punctually 
executed,  and  the  large  majority  of  the  members  held  the 
desired  opinions,  and  were  ready  to  do  as  they  were  told.  At 
the  opening  of  the  session  Pole  made  a  speech  upon  the 
changes  in  religion.  Thereupon  the  Houses  of  Parliament 
announced  their  submission  to  the  Holy  See,  and  expressed 
their  contrition  for  past  disobedience.  But  this  was  not  all  ; 
the  Acts  against  the  authority  of  the  Pope  were  repealed,  and 
the  ancient  statutes  of  Richard  II.,  Henry  IV.,  and  Henry  V. 
for  the  burning  of  heretics  were  revived.  Although  there  is 
nothing  in  these  measures  of  themselves  to  indicate  any 
approach  to  a  spirit  of  independence,  yet  this  Parliament  of 
1554  is  remarkable  from  the  fact  that  the  Commons  begin  to 
take  the  initiative.  Hitherto  nearly  all  the  chief  Acts  passed 
by  Parliament  had  been  first  introduced  in  the  Upper  Chamber. 
Thus  the  Lords  had  introduced  the  measure  to  repeal  the  Acts 
of  Edward  VI.  dealing  with  religion,  as  well  as  the  various 
Acts  of  Attainder  required  by  the  Crown.  The  all-important 
marriage  treaty  with  Philip  was  altogether  their  work,  and  the 
Commons  simply  accepted  their  settlement  of  the  question. 
But  at  the  end  of  1554  an  important  change  had  already  taken 
place.  "Whether  it  was  owing  to  the  frequent  summons  of 
Parliament,  or  to  other  causes  at  which  we  can  only  guess,  the 
Lower  House  had  visibly  grown  in  importance  since  the  last 
meeting  of  the  two  Chambers.  The  Lords  retire  to  the  back- 
ground, and  the  Commons  come  forward  in  their  place,  and 
introduce  the  measures  for  the  revival  of  the  ancient  statutes 
against  heretics.  Another  feature  of  this  Parliament  is  the 
apparition  of  a  regular  opposition  to  the  proposals  of  the 
government.  Thirty-seven  members,  disagreeing  with  the 
attitude  of  their  colleagues  on  the  religious  question,  walked 
out  of  the  House  in  a  body,  and  refused  to  take  any  further 
part  in  the  proceedings.    Although  an  action  of  this  kind  can 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  119 

rarely  prove  successful,  and  is  a  sign  of  weakness  rather  than 
strength,  yet  the  government  considered  the  matter  of  sufficient 
importance  to  take  it  up.  The  Crown  itself  interfered,  and 
cast  the  seceding  members  into  prison.  Six  burgesses,  intimi- 
dated by  this  action,  agreed  to  go  back  to  the  House  ;  but 
among  the  others  there  was  a  man  of  a  very  different  spirit, 
courageous  and  firm  in  the  defence  of  what  he  considered  to  be 
right.  This  was  Plowden,  a  lawyer  of  no  mean  ability  and 
reputation.  In  a  spirit  that  seems  like  an  anticipation  of 
Coke,  he  contested  the  power  of  the  Crown  to  deal  with  such 
cases.  If  there  had  been  any  irregularity,  any  breach  of  the 
law,  he  contended  that  the  case  belonged  solely  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Parliament,  and  that  in  meddling  therewith  the  Crown 
had  committed  a  breach  of  privilege. 

Language  so  firm  and  bold  naturally  brought  down  upon  its 
author  the  vengeance  of  the  queen.  The  unfortunate  Plowden 
was  kept  in  close  confinement,  where,  like  Sir  John  Eliot  after 
him,  he  might  have  ended  his  days,  had  not  the  death  of  Mary 
and  the  dawn  of  a  better  reign  ultimately  set  him  at  liberty. 

If  the  opposition  on  the  question  of  burning  heretics  and 
submitting  to  the  Pope  had  only  been  formed  of  a  handful  of 
between  thirty  and  forty  members,  it  speedily  became  a 
powerful  majority  when  it  was  proposed  to  restore  to  the 
Church  the  property  that  had  been  taken  from  it  by  Henry 
VIII.  Mary  had  set  her  heart  upon  the  accomplishment  of 
this  object,  and  upon  the  destruction  of  the  work  of  her  father. 
But  Parliament  was  intractable.  A  strongly  supported 
petition,  presented  by  Lords  and  Commons  alike,  many  of 
whom  were  materially  interested,  begged  the  king  and  queen  to 
leave  this  matter  untouched.  The  queen  saw  it  would  be 
unwise  to  press  the  matter,  and,  with  praiseworthy  wisdom, 
agreed  to  allow  those  who  held  Church  property  to  keep  it. 
The  Papal  Legate,  though  sorely  against  his  will,  felt  obliged 
to  admit  that  the  queen  had  done  right.  In  the  bill  that 
Parliament  hastened  to  pass,  confirming  the  rights  of  those 


120  The  Church  Property  Question. 

who  held  Church  property,  he  refused  to  countenance  an 
amendment  that  proposed  to  insert  a  clause  restricting  the 
possession  to  those  who  could  retain  such-  property  without  any 
scruple  of  conscience.  After  this  notable  victory,  Parliament 
was  dissolved  on  the  16th  of  January,  after  having  sat,  like  the 
first  one  of  the  reign,  for  rather  more  than  two  months. 

Although  the  large  mass  of  Church  property  that  had  been 
alienated  during  the  previous  reigns  was  thus  irretrievably  lost, 
devout  Catholics  did  not  yet  despair  of  saving  some  precious 
fragments  from  the  general  wreck.  Almost  before  the  dissolu- 
tion of  Parliament  Pole  had  approached  the  king  and  queen,  and 
persuaded  them  that,  although  they  had  allowed  their  subjects 
to  keep  what  they  held,  yet  the  Crown  itself  ought  conscien- 
tiously to  resign  its  own  share.  Mary  herself  was  perfectly 
ready  to  forfeit  all  that  she  held,  but  as  the  question  was  a 
complicated  one,  and  as  it  would  be  necessary  to  discover  the 
general  opinion  on  the  matter,  she  referred  the  whole  matter 
to  a  committee  of  the  Privy  Council.  During  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1555  this  select  body  devoted  much  time  to  its 
task.  The  work  was  no  light  one,  and  the  prospect  of  danger 
loomed  large  and  ominous  on  the  horizon.  Public  opinion 
was  in  a  state  of  dangerous  excitement.  In  May  appeared 
a  dialogue  written  against  the  Catholic  Religion  and  the 
queen's  government,  lampooning  the  sovereigns,  their  council, 
and  the  Houses  of  Parliament  alike.  This  publication  be- 
came so  popular  and  sold  so  well,  that,  in  London  alone,  the 
Lord  Mayor,  who  forbad  its  circulation,  collected  a  thousand 
copies. 

The  members  of  the  council  themselves,  though  undoubtedly 
specially  selected,  could  not  agree,  and  many  of  them  were 
opposed  to  the  intended  renunciation.  Evidently  no  very 
sweeping  measure  could  be  introduced,  for  otherwise  the 
opposition  would  become  general. 

At  last  the  special  committee  submitted  its  proposals  to  the 
sovereign.     They  were  in  the  main  as  follows  :  that  firstfruits 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  121 

and  tenths  should  be  restored  to  the  clergy,  but  that  the  lay- 
part  of  what  had  been  monastic  property  should  continue  to 
belong  to  the  Crown.  It  only  remained  to  obtain  the  sanction 
of  Parliament  for  this  arrangement.  Accordingly  writs  were 
issued  to  summon  the  two  Houses  to  meet  on  the  21st  of 
October. 

As  usual,  great  pains  were  taken  to  manage  the  election. 
Xot  only  did  the  sheriffs  receive  the  usual  intimation,  but, 
during  the  course  of  her  reign,  Mary  had  enfranchised  fourteen 
pocket  boroughs  returning  twenty-one  members.  But  in  spite 
of  all  precautions,  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  new  House 
of  Commons  was  not  one  upon  which  the  queen  could  rely  for 
implicit  obedience.  Whether  the  important  business  lately 
entrusted  to  Parliament  had  increased  its  consideration,  or 
whether  the  opposition  lately  shown  by  Plowden  and  his 
associates  had  reminded  Englishmen  that  the  House  of 
Co  mmons  had  once  been  the  recognized  organ  for  the  expres- 
sion of  the  opinion  of  the  nation  ;  whatever  may  have  been 
the  cause,  it  is  evident  that  a  seat  in  the  Lower  House  had 
come  to  be  a  prize  worth  trying  for,  and  the  new  Chamber 
was  filled  with  the  younger  members  of  noble  and  gentle 
families. 

But  this  was  the  very  class  which  throughout  the  reign 
had  been  foremost  in  opposition  to  the  government.  Not 
content  with  fomenting  rebellion  at  home  and  in  weaving- 
conspiracies  abroad,  these  active  young  nobles  must  needs 
come  to  confront  the  queen  in  her  counsels.  Such  a  thing, 
declares  Michiel,  had  not  been  seen  in  Parliament  for  years. 

Most  of  these  gentlemen  were  known  to  be  lukewarm 
towards  the  Catholic  religion,  if  they  were  not  actually  opposed 
to  it.  They  were  certain  to  be  more  daring  and  independent 
than  the  timid  bourgeois  who  had  predominated  in  the  previous 
assemblies,  and  altogether  it  seemed  fairly  certain  that  the 
government  measures  would  not  pass  without  great  difficulty. 
Mary  herself  felt  anxious  and  uneasy,  and  wrote  to  Philip  that 


122  Death  of  Gardiner. 

many  violent  opposition  members  had  been  returned  to  the 
new  Parliament. 

At  this  moment  of  danger  the  queen  lost  a  servant  she 
could  ill  afford  to  spare.  As  on  former  occasions,  Gardiner 
had  opened  the  session  with  a  speech,  in  which  he  sketched 
the  programme  of  work  the  Crown  wished  to  have  performed. 
This  time  he  had  only  done  so  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  at  a 
great  effort.  For  some  time  past  he  had  been  suffering  from 
a  grievous  illness,  and  a  few  days  after  his  appearance  at 
Westminster  he  expired. 

With  all  his  faults  Gardiner  had  been  a  devoted  and 
faithful  servant  to  Queen  Mary.  In  Parliament  he  was  simply 
invaluable,  for  his  personal  authority  and  his  long  and  wide 
experience  had  given  him  an  influence  that  none  of  his  con- 
temporaries possessed.  The  queen  felt  she  had  lost  the  man 
who  was  more  than  ever  needful  to  her  at  this  moment, 
and  she  looked  forward  uneasily  to  the  dark  and  uncertain 
future. 

Although  Gardiner  in  his  last  speech  had  only  spoken 
about  supply,  the  House  of  Commons  knew  perfectly  well  that 
it  would  sooner  or  later  be  called  upon  to  consider  the  question 
of  the  cession  of  Church  property.  It  was  with  this  conscious- 
ness that  they  approached  the  subject  of  supply.  The  amount 
asked  for  consisted  of  a  subsidy  and  two-fifteenths,  or  similar 
to  what  had  been  granted  in  the  first  year  of  the  reign.  The 
opposition  at  once  began  the  attack.  The  time  was  ill  chosen, 
they  contended,  to  augment  the  taxes.  The  people  were  already 
heavily  enough  burdened,  and  at  the  present  moment  were 
suffering  from  a  great  scarcity.  Wheat  had  risen  to  five  times 
its  ordinary  value.  If  the  crown  was  actually  in  need  of 
supplies,  why — and  here  they  showed  the  cloven  hoof — did  the 
queen  propose  to  give  up  such  an  important  source  of  revenue 
as  the  Church  property  ? 

However,  in  spite  of  much  opposition,  and  after  an  animated 
debate,  the  subsidy  and  the  two-fifteenths  were  voted  by  a 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  123 

large  majority.  The  opposition  had  probably  only  raised  their 
voices  in  order  to  attack  the  more  important  measure.  They 
were  destined  very  shortly  to  give  the  lie  to  the  sneer  of 
Michiel,  who  wrote  home  that  all  these  objections  would  end 
in  words,  "  for  neither  in  this  nor  in  any  government  measure 
do  they  dare  to  contradict  the  queen."  Mary,  however, 
understood  their  plan,  and  endeavoured  to  frustrate  it.  While 
accepting  the  subsidy  she  graciously  remitted  the  fifteenths 
out  of  consideration  for  the  prevailing  scarcity  and  the  conse- 
quent distress.  Evidently  in  making  this  concession  she  hoped 
to  affect  the  minds  of  the  Commons  more  favourably  towards 
her  larger  project.  While  both  government  and  opposition 
regarded  nothing  but  this  central  object,  and  put  aside  every- 
thing else  as  secondary  and  subordinate,  it  was  manifest  that 
a  great  struggle  was  approaching. 

Before  this  became  imminent,  however,  the  government 
party  won  a  victory  in  the  House.  The  last  Parliament  had 
been  made  notorious  by  reason  of  the  secession  of  Plowden 
and  his  friends.  As  the  question  had  given  rise  to  much  dis- 
cussion, and  since  the  law  on  the  subject  did  not  seem  to  be 
so  well  established  as  was  desirable,  the  old  Acts  requiring  the 
presence  of  the  knights  and  burgesses  at  Westminster  while 
Parliament  was  in  session  were  revived  and  carried  through  the 
House. 

The  victory  was  one  that  did  not  cost  much  to  the  opposi- 
tion. If  they  did  not  like  to  see  Plowden  and  his  associates 
thus  condemned,  they  might  congratulate  themselves  that  they 
were  too  strong  to  need  the  adoption  of  the  tactics  he  had 
adopted,  and  they  might  hope  to  win  on  the  all-important 
question  by  tenaciously  assisting  at  every  session  of  the 
House. 

Upon  occasion  they  knew  well  enough  how  to  meet  and 
vanquish  their  adversaries.  The  Parliament  was  not  very  old 
before  a  cunningly  devised  attack  was  made  upon  the  opposition. 
I  have  already  pointed  out  that  the  new  House  contained 


124  Government  v.   Opposition. 

many  members  of  the  younger  nobility  and  gentry,  and  these 
c  onsistently  and  vigorously  opposed  the  government.  No  one 
recognized  this  so  well  as  the  queen's  party,  and  they  therefore 
introduced  a  measure  that  none  should  be  elected  to  represent 
a  county  or  a  borough  except  persons  who  were  natives  of,  and 
actually  resident  in,  such  county  or  borough.  By  this  means 
they  hoped  to  prevent  the  election  of  their  opponents  in  the 
future. 

The  opposition,  however,  had  their  reply  ready.  In  their 
turn  they  also  introduced  a  measure.  This  was  designed  to 
prevent  any  office-holder,  pensioner,  or  stipendiary  from  sitting 
in  the  House.  Apparently  the  parties  were  so  equally  balanced 
that  they  feared  that  both  these  measures  might  become  law. 
Accordingly,  as  the  only  way  out  of  this  difficulty  in  a 
situation  that  threatened  the  destruction  of  both  sides  of 
the  House,  the  one  by  the  other,  each  side  abandoned  its 
bill. 

Although  these  proposals  met  with  such  an  untimely  fate 
they  are  interesting  from  more  than  one  point  of  view.  They 
show  us  where  the  strength  of  each  party  lay ;  they  explain 
how  it  came  about  that  so  many  of  the  nobility  had  been 
returned  to  Parliament,  and  they  suggest  to  us,  to  some 
extent,  the  way  in  which  the  queen  got  together  and  controlled 
her  majority.  Moreover,  they  were  not  so  ephemeral  as  it 
then  appeared.  Both  measures  were  revived  in  after  years, 
each  ultimately  found  its  place  on  the  Statute  Book,  only, 
however,  to  disappear  into  oblivion  as  a  dead  letter,  impossible 
to  carry  into  practice  because  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the 
constitution. 

Although  these  party  squabbles  undoubtedly  occupied  a 
great  deal  of  time,  yet  the  government  measures  naturally 
demanded  the  chief  attention,  and  it  was  round  these  that 
the  dispute  raged  fiercest.  They  were  only  two,  but  they  were 
of  very  great  importance.  The  first  dealt  with  the  disposition 
of   the    Church  property  belonging  to  the  crown,  the  other 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  125 

proposed  the  recall  of  the  absentees  on  pain  of  forfeiture  of 
their  goods. 

Both  bills  were  intimately  bound  up  with  the  religious 
question,  and  contained  fruitful  matter  for  controversy.  The 
more  important  of  them  was  the  long-expected  one  dealing 
with  Church  property.  Both  Houses  set  to  work  on  this 
measure,  but  in  a  very  hostile  spirit.  It  soon  became  evident 
that  the  bill  would  only  pass  after  suffering  several  modifications, 
if,  indeed,  it  survived  at  all. 

Mary  resolved  at  once  to  take  decisive  action.  In  direct 
violation  of  the  constitution  and  in  contempt  of  precedent,  she 
summoned  sixty  members  of  both  Houses,  but  principally 
Lords,  to  meet  her  at  her  palace  (St.  James's  ?)  on  the  23rd 
of  November.  "When  they  had  come  together  the  queen 
addressed  them  in  a  short  speech.  She  had  been  preserved  by 
God,  she  said,  in  order  to  restore  the  Catholic  faith  in  England. 
This,  by  God's  grace,  she  had  successfully  accomplished,  but 
the  work  yet  remained  incomplete.  For  its  final  accomplish- 
ment two  things  were  necessary,  namely,  that  she  should  resign 
(1)  the  firstfruits  and  tenths  as  well  as  the  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  ;  and  (2)  the  revenues  of  the  abbeys  and  monasteries 
appropriated  by  Henry  VIII.  She  therefore  desired  them  to 
complete  the  work. 

When  she  had  finished,  a  fiery  and  impetuous  member  of 
the  House  of  Commons  made  as  if  he  would  answer  her,  being- 
anxious  no  doubt  to  refute  the  queen's  statements.  But  his 
colleagues,  more  alive  to  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  and 
anxious  at  least  to  keep  up  appearances,  forced  him  to  keep 
silence,  and  would  not  allow  him  to  interrupt  the  harmony 
of  the  proceedings. 

Freed  from  the  danger  of  this  interruption,  Cardinal  Pole 
took  up  the  queen's  theme,  and  endeavoured  at  once  to  prove 
that  the  country  would  suffer  no  loss  by  the  proposed  change, 
and  to  tempt  the  gentry  by  the  hope  of  gain  for  their  families. 
The  restitution  of  the  Church  property,  he  asserted,  would  free 


126  Animated  Debate. 

the  Crown  from  the  obligation  of  paying  some  £25,000  as 
pensions  to  persons  who  had  been  dispossessed  of  their  goods. 
The  new  distribution  would  establish  eight  hundred  rectories, 
in  which  the  cadet  members  of  distinguished  families  would 
find  employment,  honour,  and  emolument. 

The  injunctions  of  the  queen  and  the  arguments  of  Pole 
did  all  that  was  desired  to  further  the  passage  of  the  bill 
through  Parliament.  The  Lords,  who  had  at  one  time  been 
very  bitter  against  it,  carried  it  unanimously,  and  without 
amendment.  Only  one  or  two  of  their  number  ventured  to 
dissent,  and  these  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  challenge  a 
division. 

In  the  Commons  things  did  not  pass  quite  so  easily.  The 
opposition  party  remained  as  strong  as  ever,  and  the  supporters 
of  the  government  feared  a  defeat  even  after  the  action  taken 
by  the  queen.  The  debate  was  long  and  animated,  and  yet 
no  conclusion  could  be  arrived  at.  At  last,  on  the  2nd  of 
December,  both  parties  concurred  in  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  of  ten  members  to  meet  six  of  the  Upper  House 
and  discuss  the  bill  together.  This  committee  apparently  came 
to  an  agreement  on  the  same  day,  when  they  must  have 
reported  results  to  the  House.  At  daybreak  on  the  following 
morning  the  final  debate  on  the  question  began  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  Of  what  actually  took  place  we  can  only  form 
a  very  vague  idea.  The  chief  argument  urged  by  the  opposition 
appears  to  have  been  this,  that  if  the  bill  was  passed  they 
would  be  creating  a  dangerous  precedent,  very  prejudicial  to 
holders  of  property.  The  other  side  seems  to  have  relied  upon 
craft  rather  than  argument.  The  debate  lasted  from  daybreak 
until  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  During  the  whole  of  this 
time  the  doors  of  the  House  were  closed,  no  one  being  allowed 
to  go  out  or  to  come  in.  This  proceeding,  on  the  face  of  it, 
looks  very  extraordinary.  Judging  by  this,  and  by  hints  thrown 
out  afterwards,  we  may  surmise  that  the  government  party 
kept  some  of  the  members  from  voting,  either  by  excluding 


The  New  Spirit  in  England,  127 

them  from  the  House  altogether  or  by  working  upon  their 
fears.  In  the  end  they  seem  to  have  snatched  a  division,  and, 
the  moment  being  favourable,  the  bill  passed  by  a  majority  of 
sixty-three,  183  voting  for  and  120  against. 

Victory  rested  but  a  short  time  with  the  government. 
The  most  important  item  on  their  programme  had  indeed 
become  law,  but  there  remained  another  and  hardly  less 
important  bill  for  the  consideration  of  Parliament.  At  the 
opening  of  the  session  two  measures  had  been  submitted  to  the 
Houses ;  the  one,  dealing  with  the  Church  property,  was  at 
length  settled ;  the  other,  demanding  the  recall  of  the  absentees, 
had  not  yet  come  up  for  serious  consideration. 

So  much  space  has  already  been  devoted  to  the  refugees 
and  exiles,  both  in  the  empire  and  in  France,  that  it  is 
unnecessary  at  this  point  to  enter  into  details  on  that  subject. 
The  Crown,  driven  to  exasperation  by  their  heresy  and  treason, 
real  or  supposed,  only  demanded  an  opportunity  for  revenge. 

The  bill  on  this  question  was  introduced  in  the  House 
immediately  after  the  other  had  been  disposed  of.  The 
government  gave  as  its  reason  that  the  English  abroad  did 
nothing  but  stir  up  enemies  to  the  country  on  the  Continent, 
while  they  fomented  discontent  at  home.  They  therefore  pro- 
posed by  this  new  measure  to  require  all  absentees  from  the 
kingdom  to  return  home  within  the  space  of  four  months  on 
pain  of  forfeiture  of  their  goods. 

As  the  bill  originally  stood  it  represented  undoubtedly  what 
the  queen  really  wanted.  But  the  determined  character  of 
the  opposition,  and  the  extreme  difficulty  in  getting  the  other 
bill  through  the  House,  induced  the  government  to  make  con- 
siderable modifications  in  the  measure.  In  the  new  bill  the 
property  of  the  absentees  was  only  to  be  forfeited  during  the 
time  of  their  absence  from  the  country,  and  their  children  or 
other  heirs  were  to  suffer  no  detriment  in  any  way. 

Manifestly  in  its  altered  form  the  measure  had  lost  nearly 
all  its  severity.     But  the  opposition  did  not  receive  it  in  any 


128  Sir  Anthony  Kingston. 

better  spirit  on  that  account.  They  demanded  why  the  que  en 
should  wish  to  deprive  her  subjects  of  the  liberty  of  going  to 
and  from  the  country,  and  considered  the  proposition  as  a 
direct  attack  upon  the  personal  freedom  of  all  Englishmen. 

The  debate  on  the  bill  waxed  very  hot,  and  the  war  of 
words  was  sharply  waged  on  both  sides.  Sir  Edward  Hastings, 
Master  of  the  Horse  and  a  staunch  loyalist,  engaged  in  such 
a  warm  discussion  with  Sir  George  Howard,  brother  of  the 
Lord  High  Admiral,  that  they  almost  came  to  blows.  The 
principal  part  in  the  opposition,  however,  was  played  by  one 
Sir  Anthony  Kingston,  member  for  Gloucestershire.  He  had 
made  a  reputation  for  ardent  Protestantism,  but  he  enjoyed 
anything  but  an  enviable  notoriety.  In  1549  he  had  evinced 
great  activity  in  suppressing  the  rebellion,  and  after  it  was 
over  he  made  a  judicial  tour  in  the  west  that  must  have  been 
a  sort  of  anticipation  of  the  cruelties  of  Jeffries.  It  is  related 
that  upon  this  occasion  he  dined  with  the  Mayor  of  Bodmin, 
and  almost  immediately  after  caused  the  unhappy  magistrate 
to  be  hung  on  a  gallows  he  had  himself  prepared.  The  Mayors 
of  Clevedon  and  St.  Ives  fared  no  better  at  his  hands,  if  report 
be  true.  His  private  was  no  better  than  his  public  life.  In 
1552  he  was  brought  before  Bishop  Hooper  on  a  charge  of 
adultery,  convicted,  and  fined  £500.  In  the  February  of  the 
present  year  (1555),  however,  he  had  accompanied  the  worthy 
prelate  on  his  way  to  the  stake,  heard  his  last  words,  and 
witnessed  his  end.  From  this  moment  Kingston  seems  to 
have  become  a  changed  man,  although  his  high  and  restless 
spirit  had  not  abandoned  him. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  debate  on  the  Absentee  Bill  he 
came  forward  as  the  chief  of  his  party.  The  majority  of  the 
House  was  manifestly  opposed  to  the  measure,  but  they  lacked 
organization,  and  many  probably  hesitated  before  they  resolved 
to  vote  against  the  known  wishes  of  the  queen,  Speaker  Pollard 
and  the  government  members  realizing  perfectly  well  the 
posture  of  affairs.     They  felt  anxious  about  the  safety  of  the 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  129 

bill,  and  were  watching  for  an  opportunity  to  snatch  a  division. 
At  this  moment  Kingston  and  a  few  of  his  friends  went  and 
posted  themselves  at  the  door  of  the  House,  in  order  to  prevent 
any  one  going  out.  From  his  post  of  vantage  Sir  Anthony 
called  out  that  he  did  not  intend  to  allow  this  bill  to  be  dealt 
with  as  the  last  had  been.  The  government  had  carried  the 
Church  Property  Bill  against  the  conscience  of  many  of  the 
members,  by  means  of  continual  delays.  He  therefore  insisted 
upon  an  immediate  division.  The  opposition  rallied  at  his 
voice,  and  at  once  became  invincible.  The  government,  no 
longer  able  to  resist,  accepted  the  inevitable,  and  suffered  an 
expected  defeat.  The. Absentee  Bill  was  thrown  out  by  the 
House. 

So  hot  had  men's  minds  become  over  the  matter  that 
disputes  continued  even  after  the  voting  was  finished.  The 
government  members  felt  nettled  at  their  defeat  in  proportion 
as  the  opposition  were  elated.  Shortly  after,  at  the  table  of 
the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  the  matter  was  sharply  debated  between 
the  earl  himself  and  one  of  his  favourite  gentlemen,  named 
Sir  John  Perrott,  the  latter  being  on  Kingston's  side.  The 
earl  became  so  enraged  that  he  dismissed  Sir  John  from  his 
service  on  the  spot,  although  he  had  been  one  of  his  closest 
companions.  Many  of  the  earl's  friends,  however,  considered 
Sir  John  to  be  in  the  right,  and  deserted  the  earl  together 
with  him. 

Meanwhile  Mary,  dissembling  her  anger,  had  given  the 
royal  consent  in  the  usual  form  to  the  acts  of  the  present 
Parliament,  which  she  proceeded  to  dissolve.  Shortly  after, 
however,  she  caused  Kingston  and  one  or  two  others  to  be 
arrested  and  thrown  into  the  Tower  for  licentious  language 
used  in  the  House.  The  imprisonment  did  not  last  long. 
Sir  Anthony  made  his  submission,  received  a  pardon,  and  was 
released  on  the  23rd  of  December  of  the  same  year.  But  so  far 
from  being  more  submissive  his  enmity  to  the  government  had 
become  far  more  intense  and  implacable.     "  They  have  put  me 

K 


130  Mary's  Last  Parliament. 

in  prison  for  their  pleasure,"  he  is  said  to  have  exclaimed, "  but 
so  shall  they  never  do  more."  The  government  continued  to 
watch  his  movements  with  suspicion.  Early  in  the  following 
year  Kingston  was  arrested  for  complicity  in  Dudley's  plot  to 
rob  the  exchequer  and  to  set  Elizabeth  on  the  throne.  But  he 
died  at  Cirencester  on  his  way  to  prison,  on  the  14th  of  April, 
1556.  According  to  Michiel  his  death  was  caused  by  the  stone. 
But  various  surmises  were  made  then  and  have  been  made 
since,  some  saying  that  he  perished  by  his  own  hand,  others 
that  he  was  poisoned  by  order  of  the  queen. 

Her  late  experiences  made  Mary  unwilling  to  summon 
another  Parliament  for  some  time.  As  disaffection  increased 
day  by  day  such  a  step  might  have  been  dangerous  in  the 
extreme  if  succeeding  Houses  of  Commons  should  prove  the 
mirrors  of  opinion  in  the  country,  and  become  even  more  bold 
and  outspoken  than  the  last.  Thus,  though  during  the  first 
two  years  of  her  reign  she  had  summoned  no  less  than  four 
Parliaments,  the  succeeding  period  of  almost  the  same  length 
passed  without  any  meeting  of  the  national  representatives. 
At  last,  owing  to  the  demands  of  the  French  War  upon  the 
treasury,  the  Crown  found  itself  in  urgent  need  of  money.  A 
new  Parliament  was  summoned,  and  met  on  the  20th  of 
January,  1558.  The  session  proved  a  very  barren  one. 
Whether  through  opposition  or  slothfulness,  no  measure  of 
any  importance  was  carried.  The  only  bill  that  calls  for 
notice  was  one  to  regulate  the  licensing  of  books,  and  that  had 
not  reached  its  third  reading  ere  the  death  of  the  queen,  on 
the  17th  of  November,  dissolved  Parliament  and  put  an  end  to 
further  proceedings. 

Thus  ends  the  parliamentary  history  of  the  reign.  It  is  a 
history  full  of  interest,  for  it  contains  the  germs  of  so  much  of 
the  life  and  vitality  that  were  to  nourish  in  the  future.  The 
whole  record  is  one  of  steady  progress.  We  see  that  the 
Commons  have  gained  immensely  in  power  and  consideration. 
Xot  only  did  the  Lower  House  begin  to  take  the  initiative  in 


The  New  Spirit  in  E?igland.  131 

matters  of  the  first  importance,  but  a  seat  in  it  had  become  a 
coveted  prize,  an  honour  worthy  of  exciting  the  emulation  of 
young  nobles  and  gentlemen.  Although  it  still  remained  true, 
as  Michiel  said,  that  no  one  could  oppose  the  will  of  the 
sovereign  in  Parliament  except  at  great  danger  to  himself,  yet 
in  this  reign  and  for  the  first  time  men  were  found  ready  to 
run  all  risks  and  venture  their  personal  liberty  and  even  life 
itself  in  the  defence  of  the  freedom  of  their  country.  Plowden 
and  Kingston  may  be  considered  as  the  first  of  a  long  line  of 
heroes  who  struggled  for  the  triumph  of  parliamentary  govern- 
ment, and  as  the  spiritual  fathers  of  the  Stricklands,  AVent- 
worths,  Eliots,  Hampdens,  and  Pyms  of  a  later  date.  As  such 
they  have  an  immense  claim  to  our  eternal  esteem  and  honour. 

Before  Mary  expired  the  members  of  her  last  Parliament 
took  a  step  that  redeems  them  from  the  reproach  of  idleness 
and  inactivity.  Choosing  a  deputation  from  both  Houses, 
they  sent  them  to  the  dying  queen's  bedside  to  ask  her  if  she 
consented  to  the  will  of  her  father  being  executed.  Mary 
feebly  consented,  and  a  record  of  her  assent  was  at  once  taken. 
Elizabeth  had  at  length  become  officially  recognized  as  the 
rightful  heiress  of  her  sister. 

The  young  princess  had  long  been  the  cynosure  of  all  who 
wished  for  a  better  government,  and  of  the  ultra-national 
party.  Ever  since  Mary  had  discarded  Courtenay  and  elected 
to  marry  Philip,  men  had  hoped  to  marry  her  younger  sister  to 
the  rejected  earl,  and  cause  the  young  couple  to  be  proclaimed 
heirs  to  the  throne,  if  indeed  they  did  not  wish  them  to  assume 
the  reins  of  government  immediately.  In  this  way  Elizabeth 
had  won  an  extraordinary  popularity,  which  the  annoyances 
and  persecutions  she  had  to  suffer  only  helped  to  increase.  In 
particular  had  she  become  the  heroine  of  the  young  nobles  and 
gentry,  who  hoped  that  she  would  one  day  become  the  English- 
hearted  queen  of  a  united  and  patriotic  England. 

But  Mary  watched  her  sister  with  jealous  and  wrathf  ul  eyes. 
She  had  indeed  many  reasons  for  hating  the  daughter  of  the 


I32  Philip  and  Elizabeth, 

woman  who  had  supplanted  her  mother.  But  now  that  the 
queen  saw  her  sister  set  up  in  opposition  to  her  by  the  turbulent 
and  disaffected  party  among  her  subjects,  her  hatred  deepened 
more  and  more.  With  Renard  at  the  queen's  elbow,  prompting 
her  to  make  away  with  her  sister  as  a  dangerous  centre  for 
conspiracies,  Elizabeth's  position  was  indeed  a  perilous  one. 
She  would  probably  have  had  but  short  shrive  had  not  help 
come  from  an  unexpected  quarter. 

Philip  had  never  cherished  much  affection  for  Mary,  who 
was  much  older  than  himself.  Recognizing  soon  after  his 
marriage  that  ;the  queen  was  suffering  from  an  illness  that 
could  not  leave  her  many  more  years  of  life,  he  at  once  began 
to  think  about  the  future.  In  order  to  retain  his  influence 
over  England  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  make  another 
marriage.  Two  candidates  were  in  presence  for  the  succession  ; 
the  one  was  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  who  was  entirely  under 
French  influence,  and  therefore  quite  out  of  the  question  for 
him  ;  the  other  was  Elizabeth. 

Towards  the  young  princess  Philip  therefore  turned  his 
attention,  and  over  her  he  threw  his  protecting  wing.  He 
did  this  the  more  willingly  because  he  might  reasonably  hope 
by  this  attitude  to  share  some  of  Elizabeth's  popularity.  At 
the  same  time  it  looked  as  if  Philip  was  going  about  to  under- 
mine Elizabeth's  influence.  In  turn  he  proposed  to  marry  her 
to  the  Duke  of  Piedmont,  Don  Carlos,  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  or 
one  of  his  cousins,  the  Archdukes  Frederick  and  Charles. 
Fully  conscious  as  he  must  have  been  of  the  unpopularity 
incurred  by  his  wife  in  marrying  a  foreigner,  Philip  surely 
had  some  ulterior  motive  in  these  propositions.  May  we  not 
justly  suppose  that  he  hoped  to  deprive  Elizabeth  of  her  power 
by  taking  away  her  chief  title  to  the  public  esteem  ?  But 
Elizabeth  had  learnt  wisdom  from  observation  and  hard 
experience.  She  refused,  one  after  the  other,  the  husbands 
her  too  eager  brother-in-law  kept  providing  for  her,  and 
repeatedly  declared  that  she  preferred  to  remain  single.     She 


The  New  Spirit  in  England.  133 

accepted,  with  a  quick  intelligence,  the  role  her  partisans  had 
selected  for  her.  She  determined  to  be  such  a  sovereign  as 
the  most  patriotic  Englishman  could  desire,  thoroughly 
national  in  every  branch  of  her  policy.  Assured  of  a  great 
and  wide-spread  popularity,  and  perfectly  conscious  that  the 
great  bulk  of  the  nation  was  impatiently  awaiting  her  accession 
to  the  throne,  Elizabeth  could  afford  patiently  to  abide  her 
time. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CONCLUSION. 

When  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne  she  was  greeted  with 
loud  and  almost  universal  acclamation.  The  consent  of  the 
late  queen  to  the  dispositions  of  her  father's  will  had  only  put 
the  official  seal  to  the  popular  desires.  The  heart  of  the 
nation  went  out  towards  its  new  sovereign.  Yet,  great  as 
was  the  enthusiasm,  it  was  probably  very  little  greater  than 
that  which  greeted  Mary  on  her  accession.  In  the  darkness 
of  her  subsequent  unpopularity  we  run  some  danger  of  losing 
sight  of  this  fact.  Yet  the  testimony  of  Michiel  affords 
undoubted  evidence  as  to  its  accuracy.  If  I  may  repeat  a 
quotation  already  given  above,  "The  affection,"  he  wrote, 
"  shown  towards  her  universally  at  the  beginning  of  her  reign 
was  such,  and  so  extraordinary,  that  never  was  greater  shown 
in  that  kingdom  towards  any  sovereign."  The  parallel  extends 
to  the  causes  as  well  as  to  the  results.  Both  sisters  ascended 
the  throne  as  successors  to  a  government  noted  alike  for 
oppressive  and  unpopular  religious  measures  at  home,  and 
disastrous  relations  abroad.  From  both  of  them  the  nation 
demanded  and  eagerly  expected  the  same  thing.  Instead  of 
the  bigoted  and  intolerant  government  of  a  small  section  of 
the  community,  they  asked  for  a  broad  national  treatment 
of  the  religious  question.  In  the  place  of  the  feeble  and 
compromising  relations  with  the  continental  powers  which  had 
distinguished  the  government  of  the  last  few  years,   they 


Conclusion.  135 

demanded  a  spirited  and  independent  administration  of  foreign 
affairs.  Such  were  the  requirements  of  the  nation,  such  were 
at  once  the  reasons  and  the  price  of  its  loyalty  and  attach- 
ment. 

To  both  queens  the  crisis  presented  itself  in  the  most 
difficult  and  delicate  question  a  woman  can  have  to  deal  with 
— a  question  upon  which  she  is  tempted  to  consult  the 
promptings  of  her  heart  and  the  guidance  of  her  inclination 
rather  than  the  dictates  of  state  policy — in  the  choice  of  her 
husband.  To  Mary  this  question  presented  itself  in  its  most 
disagreeable  form.  The  people  not  only  demanded  that  she 
should  marry  an  Englishman,  but  actually  pointed  out  the  man 
she  ought  to  choose.  The  whole  of  the  queen's  haughty  Tudor 
blood  rose  in  revolt  against  this  dictation.  She  declared  that 
she  would  choose  for  herself,  sarcastically  thanked  the  Commons 
for  their  care  of  her,  and  dismissed  them,  resolved  more  than 
ever  to  follow  her  own  will.  The  result  of  this  proved 
deplorable  both  for  Mary  and  for  the  nation.  The  marriage 
with  Philip  rendered  alike  impossible  a  national  settlement 
of  religion,  and  an  independent  policy  abroad.  The  loyalty 
and  patriotism  that  had  welcomed  Mary  to  the  throne  found 
themselves  set  at  variance  by  this  unlucky  step.  Throughout 
the  reign  they  engaged  in  a  noiseless  struggle  that  served  no 
good  end,  and  only  neutralized  the  forces  of  the  country. 

Elizabeth  had  the  same  problem  to  deal  with  as  her  sister. 
She  was  besieged  by  foreign  suitors  for  her  hand  ;  among  them, 
Philip  was  the  chief.  The  nation,  in  its  turn,  begged  the 
young  queen  to  marry  an  Englishman.  But  for  Elizabeth 
the  situation  was,  in  some  respects,  less  trying  than  it  had 
been  for  her  sister.  Courtenay  was  long  since  dead,  and  no 
peer  remained  of  sufficient  eminence  to  distinguish  him  much 
from  among  his  fellows.  The  people,  therefore,  did  not  suggest 
a  husband  for  the  queen,  but  left  her  a  free  choice,  provided 
she  should  select  an  Englishman. 

Elizabeth  also  profited  by  the  example  of  her  sister's  reign. 


136  Elizabetli  decides  not  to  marry. 

The  turning  point  of  Mary's  career  had  been  the  Spanish 
marriage,  and  all  her  unpopularity  and  troubles  had  dated 
from  this  epoch.  Elizabeth  fully  recognized  this  fact,  and 
she  had  already  shown  her  wisdom  in  refusing  the  various 
foreign  suitors  Philip  proposed  for  her.  But  other  powerful 
reasons  also  influenced  her.  The  French  king,  anxious  above 
all  to  draw  England  from  the  Spanish  alliance,  and  fearing 
lest  Elizabeth  should  follow  her  sister's  example,  approached 
her  with  the  most  favourable  terms.  If  she  would  refuse 
Philip,  remain  unwed,  and  renounce  Calais,  Henry  promised 
not  only  not  to  support  the  claims  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots, 
but  to  aid  Elizabeth  to  the  extent  of  his  power. 

It  was  in  this  situation  that  Elizabeth,  overcoming  what 
personal  feelings  she  may  have  had,  resolved  upon  that  wise 
and  politic  course  of  conduct  that  she  adhered  to  through- 
out her  reign  with  admirable  consistency.  Refusing  Philip, 
she  also  declined  to  marry  a  subject.  The  alliance  with  a 
foreign  monarch  would  have  rendered  her  unpopular  with  her 
people  ;  to  marry  a  subject  would  have  been  to  render  all  the 
rest  of  the  nobility  jealous.  If  now  and  again  she  negotiated 
a  marriage  with  this  or  that  foreign  prince,  it  was  simply  for 
State  reasons,  and  she  always  drew  back  at  the  critical  moment. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  she  kept  at  her  side  a  Leicester  or  an 
Essex,  it  was  to  flatter  the  people  with  the  hope  that  she  would 
marry  an  Englishman,  though  as  a  matter  of  fact  no  serious 
steps  in  this  direction  were  ever  taken. 

Elizabeth's  conduct  secured  for  her  the  enthusiastic  and 
passionate  attachment  of  her  people.  Those  who  had  been 
most  forward  in  opposition  to  her  sister  found  that  their  hopes 
of  her  conduct  had  not  been  deceived,  and  they  became  the 
bravest  and  most  ardent  of  her  followers.  If  Mary  had 
caused  a  division  between  the  feelings  of  loyalty  and  patriotism, 
then  so  strong  in  the  nation,  Elizabeth  united  them  in  her 
person,  and  enjoyed  the  outcome  of  both  sentiments.  In 
time,  indeed,  the  people  began  to  appreciate  the  whole  bent  of 


Conclusion.  137 

Elizabeth's  policy,  and  waxed  proud  as  they  talked  of  their 
virgin  queen,  the  glorious  ruler  of  their  precious  little  isle 
"  set  in  the  silver  sea."  When  christening  his  new  colony  in 
America,  and  seeking  a  name  by  which  to  honour  the  queen, 
Sir  "Walter  Raleigh  could  think  of  nothing  better  nor  more 
appropriate  than  Virginia. 

In  the  great  crisis  of  her  life  Elizabeth  chose  wisely  and 
well,  just  as  her  sister  had  chosen  foolishly  and  ill.  The 
energy  and  spirit  of  the  nation,  which  only  needed  guidance 
and  direction,  had  been  thrown  away  under  Mary  when 
weakness  and  discord  reigned  everywhere.  Elizabeth  gave 
the  national  forces  point  and  aim,  and  order  and  unity  were  the 
result.  A  strong  national  life  at  once  sprang  into  being  as  if 
by  magic.  By  solving  the  problem  of  her  marriage  the  queen 
had  settled  nearly  all  the  other  difficulties  that  threatened 
her.  Henceforward  she  could  count  upon  the  hearty  and 
unreserved  support  of  the  nation,  and,  strong  in  this  aid,  she 
could  resolutely  and  courageously  face  such  embarrassments  as 
might  arise  in  foreign  affairs. 

Without  fear  of  contradiction  it  may  be  said  that  the  history 
of  England  in  all  its  fulness  begins  with  the  reism  of  Eliza- 
beth.  The  institutions,  the  habits,  the  ideas  that  form  our 
life  of  to-day  may  in  their  principal  outlines  be  found  existing 
together  at  that  reign,  and  for  the  first  time.  After  a  conti- 
nental policy  of  conquests  on  the  main  land,  the  nation  begins 
to  perceive  that  its  true  career  is  on  the  seas,  and  makes  the 
world  ring  with  the  fame  of  its  daring  mariners.  Instead  of 
winning  continental  lands,  the  English  princes  begin  to  think 
of  founding  colonies  in  the  new  world.  After  long  years  of 
sectarian  strife,  between  Protestant  and  Catholic,  the  religious 
question  is  settled  upon  a  firm  basis  destined  to  endure  for 
generations.  Finally,  after  a  long  eclipse,  the  House  of 
Commons  takes  precedence  of  the  House  of  Lords  in  all  public 
questions,  and  comes  forward  to  occupy  that  prominent  position 
from  which  it  has  never  retired.     Here  it  meets  the  sovereign 


I38  Res? tits  of  the  loss  of  Calais. 

face  to  face,  and  the  great  struggle  begins  for  the  commanding 
voice  in  the  affairs  of  State  that  cannot  long  be  denied  to  it. 

The  loss  of  Calais  is  one  of  the  most  important  events  in 
English  history.  When  the  news  first  became  generally  known 
foreigners  as  well  as  Englishmen  thought  that  the  importance 
of  England  as  a  European  power  had  ceased  to  exist.  Having 
allowed  this  great  fortress  and  sea-port  to 'slip  out  of  their 
hands,  the  English  would  henceforth  be  doomed  to  remain 
shut  up  within  the  narrow  limits  of  their  little  island.  No 
one  suspected  that  the  loss  of  Calais,  while  marking  the  close 
of  an  important  era  in  our  foreign  relations,  prepared  the 
way  for  a  brilliant  and  more  congenial  sphere  of  action  in 
another  direction.  The  loss  -of  the  last  of  our  possessions  in 
France  forms  the  final  scene  of  a  period  and  a  policy  which 
dates  from  William  the  Conqueror.  At  last,  after  many  cen- 
turies, England  had  emerged  from  the  thick  swirl  of  European 
pohtics.  The  policy  of  frequent  interference  in  foreign  affairs 
was  henceforth  to  be  abandoned.  All  thoughts  of  conquests  in 
France  were  given  up,  as  well  as  all  idea  of  the  recovery  of 
Henry  II.'s  inheritance.  Although  it  is  true  that  Englishmen 
turned  away  reluctantly  from  this  ambition,  yet  the  renuncia- 
tion proved  complete  and  thorough. 

Shut  out  from  a  powerful  influence  on  the  Continent, 
England  might  well  have  fallen  into  that  impotence  that  most 
men  predicted  for  her.  Fortunately  she  found  new  ways  in 
which  to  show  her  power  and  energy,  means  by  which  she 
eventually  made  herself  a  thousand  times  more  strong  than 
she  ever  could  have  become  by  adopting  the  old  continental 
policy. 

Commerce  had  already  made  great  strides  in  the  country. 
The  Company  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers  existed,  and 
carried  on  an  active  trade.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  YI.  Sir 
William  Willoughby  had  braved  the  rigours  of  the  northern 
seas,  and  his  little  band  of  followers  discovered  the  unknown 
land  of  Muscovy.     A  new  company  was  at  once  started  to 


Conclusion.  139 

exploit  this  fresh  country,  and  active  commercial  relations 
were  at  once  instituted.  On  every  side  the  same  spirit  might 
be  seen,  intensified  by  that  agricultural  distress  which  had 
induced  many  to  turn  their  lands  into  pasture,  and  to  endeavour 
to  make  the  excellence  of  English  wool  better  known. 

The  loss  of  Calais  and  all  that  was  involved  thereby 
naturally  diminished  the  importance  of  the  land  forces,  while 
it  placed  a  greater  responsibility  on  the  fleet.  It  was  upon  her 
navy  that  England  now  relied,  not  only  for  the  safety  of  her 
shores,  but  for  the  development  of  her  growing  commerce  and 
for  the  discovery  of  fresh  markets.  Once  launched  on  this 
career  of  maritime  enterprise  and  colonization,  England  never 
abandoned  it.  Naturally,  however,  the  beginnings  were  feeble 
and  tentative.  The  sea-dogs,  with  all  their  daring  and 
brilliance,  accomplished  very  little  of  permanent  importance. 
The  only  colony  founded  during  Elizabeth's  reign — Raleigh's 
settlement  at  Virginia — broke  up  miserably.  The  expeditions 
of  Drake  and  his  fellows  were  little  better  than  buccaneering 
forays.  Yet  their  work  was  of  the  first  importance.  In  the 
great  crisis  of  1588  they  showed  themselves  capable  of  bravely 
and  successfully  defending  their  country  before  the  eyes  of  an 
astonished  world.  Even  in  other  respects  their  efforts  proved 
far  from  fruitless.  It  was  something  to  have  asserted  the 
right  of  England  to  colonize.  This  country  had  been  brought 
face  to  face  with  Spain  on  many  and  various  occasions,  and 
had  invariably  proved  the  stronger  on  the  sea.  Finally,  when 
James  proceeded  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  predecessor, 
the  way  had  been  prepared  for  him  and  the  difficulties  smoothed 
away.  What  had  shortly  before  seemed  impossible  became  an 
accomplished  fact. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  the  strong  national  feeling, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  every  department  of  the  national  life, 
entered  also  into  the  domain  of  religion,  and  profoundly 
influenced  those  changes  which  had  become  inevitable.  The 
joy  of  the  nation  at  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  was  largely 


140  Why  England  embraced  Protestantism. 

increased  because  the  people  believed  that  their  new  sove- 
reign, as  the  daughter  of  a  Protestant  queen,  whose  history  had 
been  so  closely  bound  up  with  the  changes  in  religion,  would 
herself  prove  a  Protestant.  In  this  feeling  sectarian  and 
dogmatic  questions  played  but  a  small  part.  The  severity  of 
the  Catholic  government,  the  fires  of  Smithiield,  and  the 
fortitude  of  the  victims  undoubtedly  caused  a  reaction  in 
favour  of  Protestantism.  But  the  insular  national  feeling 
operated  far  more  strongly.  The  pope,  in  the  eyes  of  most 
Englishmen,  was  a  foreigner,  and  suffered  therefore  from  the 
universal  prejudice  of  the  nation  against  strangers.  This 
state  of  affairs  is  easy  to  explain.  During  the  thousand  years 
that  England  had  been  a  Christian  country  only  one  English- 
man had  sat  upon  the  papal  throne  and  worn  the  tiara. 
Frenchmen,  Spaniards,  and  Italians  had  all  had  their  share, 
but  England  continued  to  be  neglected  by  the  sacred  college, 
and  even  so  eminent  a  man  as  Cardinal  Wolsey  failed  to  secure 
the  coveted  prize.  As  usual  in  our  history,  financial  questions 
exercised  a  strong  influence  in  this  matter  as  in  all  others  of 
importance.  The  people  objected  to  paying  continual  subsidies 
and  offerings  to  a  power  from  which  they  derived  no  benefit, 
and  with  which  their  only  relations  were  such  payments  in 
money,  or  interference  with  their  national  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence. It  is  not  therefore  surprising  that  the  nation  seized 
the  earliest  opportunity  of  throwing  off  a  yoke  that  had  become 
so  irksome  to  them.  Even  the  new  colonial  enterprises  led 
the  nation  in  the  same  direction.  The  pope,  Alexander  VI., 
had  magnanimously  divided  the  as  yet  unexplored  new  world 
between  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  and  it  is  obvious  that 
if  the  pretensions  of  the  pontiff  were  admitted  there  was  an 
end  of  all  colonial  development  for  England  in  the  lands 
washed  by  the  Pacific. 

The  Spanish  marriage  only  tended  to  embitter  feelings 
already  widespread.  They  gained  new  force  because  the  union 
of  Philip  and  Mary  constituted  an  attack  upon  the  national 


Conclusion.  141 

side  of  the  question.  Henceforward  Catholicism  and  Spanish 
tyranny  became  all  but  synonymous.  Philip  was  the  eldest 
son  of  the  Church,  and  in  his  person  represented  both  bigotry 
and  despotism.  The  persecutions  of  Mary,  with  all  the  odium 
they  had  excited,  were  attributed  to  his  influence,  and  the 
English  considered  themselves  fortunate  for  having  escaped  the 
Inquisition. 

But  although  the  Spaniard  was  the  chief  butt  of  this 
hostile  feeling,  the  French  princes  shared  the  odium  only  in  a 
less  degree.  This  appeared  particularly  during  the  time  that 
Elizabeth  was  dallying  with  Alencon,  and  the  massacre  of 
Saint  Bartholomew  doubtless  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  it. 

In  short,  the  English  people  had  grown  to  regard  Roman 
Catholicism  as  the  religion  of  foreigners  ;  of  Spaniards, 
Frenchmen,  and  Italians,  the  enemies  of  their  country,  a  creed 
the  profession  of  which  was  incompatible  with  true  patriotism 
and  loyalty. 

The  Church  settlement  of  Elizabeth  was  excellently 
designed  to  meet  the  situation,  and  as  an  opportunist  measure 
it  answered  every  purpose.  The  provisions  for  ceremonies  and 
vestments,  the  absolution,  the  Communion  Service  itself  were 
all  drawn  up  on  vague  and  indefinite  lines.  "Where  so  much 
was  left  uncertain,  or  rather  ill  defined,  it  was  to  the  advantage 
of  every  one  to  join  the  body  of  the  State  Church.  Men  of 
widely  different  opinions  thus  found  themselves  partaking  of 
the  same  communion,  while  the  mass  of  the  people,  having  no 
definite  opinions,  naturally  followed  what  seemed  easiest  and 
most  simple. 

But  the  great  merit  of  the  Church  under  Elizabeth  was  its 
essentially  national  character.  No  foreigner,  whoever  he  might 
be,  could  have  any  part  in  its  control  or  government.  The 
Protestants  of  all  kinds  supported  it,  as  well  as  most  of  the 
Catholics,  while  only  a  few  Papists  still  wished  to  retain  the 
supremacy  of  the  pope. 

Whatever  may  be  said  for  or  against  national  Churches, 


142  The  English  Church. 

there  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  some  such  settlement  was 
needful  for  the  nation  in  1558.  The  violent  changes  in 
religion  of  the  past  few  years  had  unsettled  men's  minds,  and 
some  middle  course  had  become  absolutely  necessary.  The 
government  seemed  the  instrument  best  fitted  to  carry  out 
such  a  measure,  and  it  stepped  into  the  breach.  So  imperative 
had  such  a  settlement  become,  that  the  people  tacitly  demanded 
it,  as  is  proved  by  the  zeal  with  which  they  upheld  it  when 
accomplished,  even  though  it  might  not  fit  all  their  beliefs. 
Puritan  and  Catholic  alike  recognized  that  a  national  ecclesi- 
astical settlement  was  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  country. 
They  knew  full  well  how  necessary  it  was  that  England  should 
present  a  united  front  in  the  midst  of  its  danger,  and  that  if  it 
wished  to  be  independent,  and  unbound  by  any  allies,  it  could 
only  be  secure  by  the  solidarity  of  its  inhabitants.  Thus, 
although  they  could  not  accept  all  that  the  Church  taught  or 
required,  they  were  ready  to  submit  to  its  supremacy,  and  even 
to  its  persecutions.  Many  of  them  indeed,  availing  themselves 
of  the  loose  wording  and  early  interpretation  of  its  dogmas, 
entered  its  pale,  and  became  Anglicans  themselves. 

But  though  this  system  was  admirably  adapted  for  the 
moment,  it  suffered  the  fate  of  all  opportunist  measures,  and 
underwent  in  the  future  important  modifications..  The 
moderate  and  indefinite  character  of  the  Anglican  Church  could 
not  long  continue.  Even  under  Elizabeth  it  had  taken  an 
entirely  Protestant  tone,  and  the  principal  sees  were  filled  with 
eminent  Protestants  and  even  Puritans.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  tendency  to  shut  out  the  Puritans  grew  stronger  and 
stronger.  By  degrees  the  dogmatic  position  of  the  Church 
became  clearer.  Numerous  penal  codes  defined  more  exactly 
its  limits,  and  at  the  same  time  diminished  the  number  of  its 
communicants.  The  Catholics  did  not  consider  that  enough  of 
the  old  traditions  had  been  retained.  The  Puritans  would 
admit  none  whatever.  Thus  grew  up  side  by  side  with  the 
Established  Church  large  bodies  of  Protestant   and  Catholic 


Conclusion.  .  143 

dissenters,  a  state  of  affairs  that  began  to  take  definite  shape  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

It  is  needless  after  what  has  been  said  to  dwell  particularly 
upon  the  history  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  commanding 
position  taken  by  the  Lower  Chamber  during  the  reign  of  Mary 
was  never  abandoned,  and  in  spite  of  repeated  efforts  of  the 
Crown,  the  House  of  Commons  continued  to  grow  rapidly  in 
power  and  influence  until  it  had  practically  become  the  sole 
governing  body  of  the  country. 

While  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  presence  of  all  these 
elements  of  our  modem  life  taking  shape  in  the  England  of 
Elizabeth,  it  is  even  more  striking  to  observe  how  large  a  part 
was  played  by  the  Marian  exiles,  if  not  in  their  formation,  at 
least  in  their  development.  In  every  branch  that  I  have 
touched  upon  the  same  phenomenon  may  be  observed.  The 
religious  settlement  was  profoundly  influenced  by  what  took 
place  in  the  cities  of  the  Empire.  Of  those  who  returned  from 
the  exile,  one  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  several  were 
made  Bishops,  whilst  nearly  all  received  some  important 
preferment  in  the  Church.  At  Frankfort  Cox  had  laid  down 
the  lines  that  the  Anglican  Churchmen  should  follow,  and  his 
arrangement  found  acceptance  afterwards.  The  Puritans  who 
found  themselves  outside  the  bounds  he  set,  or  who  were 
opposed  to  his  delimitations,  continued  afterwards  their  non- 
conformity and  their  opposition  upon  the  same  principles  that 
had  moved  them  at  Frankfort.  It  seemed  as  if  the  whole 
Protestant  religious  system  had  come  out  of  the  fiery  trial  of 
Mary's  reign  fully  forged,  and  complete. 

The  exiles  in  France  also  had  their  share  in  the  work.  In  the 
Killigrews,  in  Carew,  and  in  Stafford  we  may  discern,  though 
perhaps  faintly,  the  precursors  of  the  sea-dogs  of  Elizabeth's 
reign.  It  is,  however,  less  problematical  to  trace  the  connection 
between  the  spirited  nobility  and  gentry  who  were  continually 
plotting  against  Mary,  and  the  similar  hot-headed  young  spirits 
who  adored  Elizabeth.     Those  who  had  been  the  terror  of  the 


144  Importance  of  the  Exiles. 

one  sister  had  become  the  champions  of  the  other.  Unwittingly, 
and  in  spite  of  themselves,  these  same  men  had  furnished  in 
another  way  assistance  to  the  development  of  the  English 
nationality  which  they  had  so  much  at  heart.  The  invasion  of 
Stafford  had  been  the  immediate  cause  of  the  war  with  France, 
as  the  harbouring  of  Carew  and  Dudley  had  proved  the  chronic 
source  of  irritation.  Dudley  supplied  the  information  as  to 
the  ill  condition  of  the  garrison  at  Calais  upon  which  Guise 
undoubtedly  acted.  In  this  way  the  loss  of  Calais  may  in  very 
large  measure  be  attributed  to  the  refugees,  and  with  it  all  that 
it  involved. 

The  influence  of  the  exiles  may  be  traced  even  to  the 
Parliamentary  history.  Although  in  their  absence  they  could 
naturally  take  no  active  part  either  in  or  out  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  it  was  a  bill  affecting  them  that  the  Parliament 
ventured  to  throw  out,  against  the  express  wishes  of  the  queen. 
Thus  it  was  upon  a  measure  dealing  with  the  exiles  that 
Parliament  made  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  acts  of  spirit  and 
independence  against  the  power  of  the  Crown. 

Where  so  much  is  explained  by  other  causes  it  may  well 
seem  that  the  role  of  Elizabeth  has  been  considerably  modi- 
fied. Yet  it  was  she  who  had  created  the  situation.  Her 
determination  not  to  marry  a  foreigner,  her  hesitation  to  take 
an  Englishman  and  a  subject  rendered  all  the  rest  possible. 
This  supreme  act  of  wisdom  was  worth  a  thousand  smaller 
ones.  In  other  respects  it  was  not  the  queen  who  took  the 
initiative.  She  indeed  chose,  with  consummate  skill,  wise  and 
sagacious  counsellors,  but  beyond  this  she  was  rather  led  than 
leader  through  the  various  events  which  mark  her  reign.  The 
elements  of  the  nation  seemed  to  fall  into  their  places  of  them- 
selves. Little  as  there  may  seem  in  common  between  Puritan 
and  Privateer,  both  of  them  found  a  place  in  the  new  England, 
and  lived  together  in  harmony.  Their  common  bond  consisted 
in  their  common  patriotism.  The  trials  of  Mary's  reign  had 
taught  a  salutary  lesson  to  all,  and  the  old  internal  discords  and 


Conclusion.  145 

miseries  were  abandoned  for  the  deep  and  pure  pleasure  of 
national  unity  and  independence.  Although  the  physical  con- 
nection binding  the  heroes  of  Elizabeth's  reign  to  the  exiles  of 
Mary's  may  not  be  easy  or  even  possible  to  discover,  the 
spiritual  bond  is  unmistakable,  nay  striking. 

Those  tendencies  that  we  have  remarked  in  the  exiles 
manifested  themselves  under  Mary,  like  disembodied  spirits, 
aimless  and  powerless.  By  the  self-sacrifice  of  Elizabeth  they 
gained  point  and  body.  The  exiles  returned  to  England  to  use 
all  their  influence  for  the  establishment  and  furtherance  of 
the  complete  insularity  and  independence  of  their  native  land. 
Upon  what  small  pivots  do  great  events  turn  !  May  we  not 
say  that  the  chief  reason  for  the  profound  difference  between 
the  reigns  of  Mary  and  Elizabeth  lies  in  the  different  way  in 
which  they  approached  and  treated  the  delicate  question  of 
matrimony  ! 


INDEX 


Absentee  Bill,  127-129,  144 
''Admonition   to   Christian   Men," 

28,36 
Alencon,  Due  d',  141 
Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  140 
Anglican  service,  12 
Anglicanism,  ideas  opposed  to,  59 
Anglicans,  18-21,  27,  29,  32,  38,  41, 

42,  45,  143 
Antwerp,  Carew  at,  79,  88 
Apocalypse,  churches  of,  G7 
Apocrypha,  40 
Arau,  church  at,  66 
Arbitration  by  foreigu  divines,  21 ; 

refused  by  Cox,  31,  32 
Ashley,  50-54,  62,  66 
Assheton,  Christopher,  84,  111 

B 

Bale,  Thomas,  15,  28 

Barrow,  59 

Bartue,  63 

Basle,  9,  33,  43,  66 

Bedford's,  Earl  of,  son,  75 

Bentham,  Thomas,  7,  8 

Bible,  17,  26,  28,  38,  39;  Cover- 
dale's,  39;  Cranmer's,  39;  Geneva 
or  Breeches,  39^1 ;  Authorized 
Version  of,  41 

Bishops,  the  Protestaut,  deprived,  8 

Blois,  French  Court  at,  85 

Bodley,  Thomas,  38 

Bodmin,  Mayor  of,  128 

"Book  of  Martyrs,"  42,43 


Boulogne,  89 ;  governor  of,  90 

Bradford,  43 

Browne,  59 

Bullinger,  9,  21,  43,  44, 45 

Burnet,  8 


Calais,  1,  69,  90,  136;  plot  against, 
84,  89-91 ;  loss  of,  91,  138,  139, 
144 ;  Lord  Deputy  of,  90,  91 

Calvin,  6,  9,  18,  21,  31,  32,  34,  45  ; 
opinions  of  Prayer-book,  19 

Calvinist  system  established  at 
Frankfort,  13 

Calvinists,  16, 19,  20,  24,  32,  33,42, 
45 

Cambridge,  Protestants  at,  7 ; 
visited  by  Gardiner,  8 

Carew,  Sir  Peter,  72-79,  82,  83,  88, 
89,  111,  143, 144 ;  flees  to  France, 
72  ;  at  Rouen,  74 ;  submits,  78 

Carlos,  Don,  132 

Catholics  rule  country  under  Mary, 
2  ;  refuse  to  acknowledge  Eliza- 
beth as  head  of  Church,  3 

Ceremonies  abandoned,  26 

Chambers,  Richard,  10,  49,  57,  61 ; 
envoy  from  Strasburg,  16,  17 ; 
conduct  as  deacon,  64,  65 

Channel  Islands,  81 

Charles  V.,  the  emperor,  9,  28,  29, 
69,  76,  101 

Charles,  the  Archduke,  132 

Church  settlement  of  Elizabeth, 
3,  44,  46,  141,  142;  the  English, 
37;  propertv,  question  of,  119- 
121,  124-127,  129 


148 


Index. 


Circular  letters  sent  from  Frank- 
fort, 13,  14,  66 

Cirencester,  Kingston  dies  at,  130 

Clarendon  Code,  37 

Clinton,  Lord,  85,  86 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  119 

Cole,  Thomas,  of  Corpus  Coll., 
7,  19,  33,  38,  49 

Colonization,  139 

Commerce,  English,  138 

Commons,  House  of,  143;  petition 
queen  about  marriage,  69,  115; 
writs  to  return  fit  members  to, 
117,  121;  begins  to  take  initia- 
tive, 118, 137.     See  Parliament. 

Congregation  of  Frankfort,  50-66 

Congregationalists,  59 

Conquest,  port  of,  81 

Constable  of  France,  70,  81 

Cornewalls  of  Essex,  84 

Corporation  of  Loudon,  71 

Corsairs.     See  Pirates. 

Courtenay,  Edward,  Earl  of  Devon, 
70,  71,  79,  83,  86-88,  110,  135 

Covenanters,  Scotch,  41 

Coverdale,  Miles,  10,  39;  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible,  39 

Cox,  Dr.  Richard,  15,  33-37,47,51, 
63,  143;  chief  of  Oxford  Re- 
formers, 6 ;  Chancellor  of  Oxford, 
7 ;  activity  in  reform,  7 ;  im- 
prisoned, 8 ;  escapes,  21 ;  at 
Frankfort,  21-34;  returns  to 
Zurich,  34 ;  estimate  of  conduct, 
35 ;  puritanism  of,  45 ;  revolt 
against  measures  of,  59,  60 

Coxans,  23,  29,  34 

Cranmer,  43 ;  translation  of  Bible, 
39 

Cray,  Captain,  76 

Crayer,  Captain,  89 

Cromwell,  37 


Deacons  of  Frankfort  Church,  13, 

33,  34,  59 
De  Selva,  French  ambassador,  70, 

71,  111 
Devisat,  a  spy,  90 
Devon,  Earl  of.     See  Courtenay. 
Devonshire,  plan  to  invade,  72,  74 
Dieppe,  Stafford  at,  98,  99 


Discipline,  Book  of,  33,  47,  58,  59, 

61,62 
Dover,  98 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  2,  82,  139 
Dudley,  Henry,  84,  85,  88,  89,  91, 

96,  101,  111,  144;  Lord,  90 
Durham,  Bishop  of,  38 ;  Dean  of,  38 

E 

Edward  VI.,  reign  of,  1,  2,  92, 106 ; 
succession  of,  68 ;  review  of  laws 
of,  proposed,  113 

Egmont.  Count  of,  109 

Elders  of  Frankfort  Church,  33,  35, 
50,  51,  53,  54,  55-59 

Eliot,  Sir  John,  119 

Elizabeth,  36,  65,  66,  71,  79,  83,  86, 
110,  111  ;  attitude  to  matrimony, 
131,  135-137,'  144,  145;  popu- 
larity, 134;  proposals  to  marry, 
132 ;  reign  of,  1,  3,  4 ;  English 
history  begins  with,  137 

Emperor.     See  Charles  V. 

England,  immunity  of,  69 

English  serving  in  French  armies, 
76 ;  hate  foreigners,  108  ;  rebel- 
lious, 105 

Essex,  Earl  of,  136 

Exiles,  number  of,  8 ;  settlements 
of,  9;  poverty  of,  10,  77,  88; 
supplied  by  London  merchants, 
10 ;  return  of,  66 ;  alarm  at  war, 
104 ;  importance  of,  3,  143,  144 


Fitzwilliam,  Bryan,  74,  80,  94,  95 
Fleur  de  Lys,  the,  98 
Fontainbleau,  93 
Foreigners,  English  hate,  108 
Fox,  John,  19,  23,  33,  42,  43 
France,  Protestants  flee  to,  8 ;  war 

declared  against,  103 
Frankfort,     Caps.    II.     and    III., 

passim;   "Troubles  of,"  18,  20, 

48,49 
Frederick,  the  Archduke,  132 
French  Protestants,  9,  11-13,  25, 

59  ;  discipline  of  Church,  27,  28  ; 

spies,  89  ;  troops  on  frontier,  89 
Frobisher,  82 
Froscher  entertains  exiles,  44 


Index. 


149 


a 

Gardiner,  Stephen,  110;  visits  Ox- 
ford, 8  ;  inexorable  to  exiles,  10  ; 
opens  Parliament,  113,  116.  122  ; 
death,  122 

Geneva,  9,  33,  34,  37,  38,  42,  45, 
6b ;  Knox  goes  to,  29 ;  book  of, 
18,  20,  27,  42 

Gentry,  returned  to  Parliament, 
1554,  121 ;  activity  under  Eliza- 
beth, 143 

Germany,  exiles  go  to,  9 

Gilby,  7,  19,  20,  33,  38 

Glauberg,  John,  11,  25,  29,  30 

Goodman,  7,  30,  33,  38 

Guise,  Duke  of,  91,  144 

Guisnes,  89,  90 

H 

Haddon,  15,  16 

Hague,  the,  81 

Hales,  John,  52,  53 

Hammes,  90 

Hampden,  131 

Hampton  Court,  109 

Harwich,  plan  to  invade,  88 

Hastings,  Sir  Edward,  110,  111, 
128 

Hawkins,  Sir  John,  82 

Henry  IV.,  99 

Henry  VII.,  96,  106,  112 

Henry  VIII.,  1,  106,  112 

Henry  II.  of  France,  70,  74,  78,  80. 
81,  83,  84, 89, 91,  94-96, 100, 101 ; 
a  zealous  Catholic,  9 ;  welcomes 
English  rebels,  72,  73,  83,  85 ; 
proposals  to  Elizabeth,  136 

Heretics,  statutes  for  burning,  re- 
vived, 118 

Hooper,  Bishop,  128 

Home,  34,  48-66 

Horseys,  84 

Howard,  Sir  George,  128 

Hull,  98 

Humphrey,  Dr.  Lawrence,  7 

I 

Independents,  origin  of,  59 

Isaacs,  27,  28,  30 

Italy,  Pickering  goes  to,  78 


James  I.,  139 

Jane,  Queen,  7 

Jewel,  7,  10,  28,  43,  44 

Jury,  importance  of  trial  by,  111 


K 


Kent,  47,  48 

Kent  (countv),  rebellion  in.  70 

Killigrews,  74.  75,  78.  79,  82.  143  ; 

Peter,  81 ;  his  fleet  defeated,  82 ; 

Henry,  87 
Kingston,  Sir   Anthouv.  84,  128- 

131 
Knollys,  Sir  Francis,  33 
Knox,  John,  15-17,  20,  23-29,  33, 

35,  36,  38  ;  attacks  Prayer-book, 

23 
Knoxans,  23,  33 


La  Rochelle,  81 

Legate,  papal,  119 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  136 

Lever,  15,  16,  18,  20,  26,  44 

Libel  against  the  Government,  120 

Litany  and  responses,   12,  14,  20, 

22,23 
Literature,  English  have  no  taste 

for,  2 ;  Elizabethan,  3,  4 
Litolfi,  Annibale,  106,  108 
London,  plan  to  fire,  83 
London  merchants  supply  exiles,  10 
Londoners,  70,  71 
Lords,  House  of,  114,  117 
Low  Countries,  69,  109 
Luther,  6 
Lutheran  magistrates  of  Wesel.  10 


M 


Machyn's  Diary,  100 

Magdalen  College,  head  and  fellows 

ejected,  8 
Magistrates  of  Frankfort,  11,  13, 

25,  27-29,  32,  35,  60-62 
Mansone,  Sir  John,  8,  110 
Marriage,  the  Spanish,  69,  79,  80, 

82,  92,  108,  114,  117,  135,  140; 

treaty  with  Don  Philip,  117 


1^0 


Index. 


Marshalsea  prison,  Cox  escapes 
from,  21 

Martyr,  Peter,  10,  21,  43 

Mary,  welcome   at  accession,  107. 
134 ;    first  female   sovereign    of 
England,  68 ;   distrusted  by  re- 
formers, 7  ;    proclamation  of,  8 
anger    against    rebels,   76,   100 
102;    unpopularity    of,   84,   85 
a  Jezebel,  28;  lives  in  fear,  110: 
answers   Commons    about    mar 
riage,  115;  remits  subsidy,  123 
summons     Parliament     to     her 
palace,  125 ;  declares  war  against 
France,  103  ;  persecution  under, 
140,    141 ;    nominates  Elizabeth 
as  heir,  131 ;  death  of,  65  ;  reign 
of,  1,  2,  29,  70-73,  99,  119-121 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  96,  132,  136 

Maurice  of  Saxony,  9 

Meeting  of  Frankfort  Church,  32  ; 
night,  of  rebels  in  Paris,  84 

Merchant  adventurers,  138 

Michiel,  Venetian  ambassador,  102, 
107,  108,  121,  130;  opinion  of 
English,  105 ;  opinion  of  Parlia- 
ment, 112,  123 

Ministers  of  Frankfort,  13,  58 

Mullings,  34 

Muscovy,  discovery  of,  138 

Musculus,  21 

N 

Neuchatel,  exiles  at,  80 

Xewnham  Bridge,  89 

Noailles,  French  ambassador,  75, 
76,  100,  102,  111;  opinion  of 
English,  105 

Nobility,  enthusiasm  of,  75  ;  emi- 
gration of  young,  75 

O 

Old  Hundredth,  41 

"  Oppressed  congregation,"  30,  32, 

33 
Oxford,  6,  8 


Paget,  75,  110 

Pamphlets  produced  by  exiles,  10 

Paris,  94,  95,  97 

Parkhurst,  44 


Parliament,  68,  71,  109,  113,  144 ; 
revival  of,  112, 131  ;  first,  of  Mary, 
113-115  ;  second,  116, 117  ;  third, 
117-120;  fourth,  121-129  ;  fifth, 
130,  131 
1   Parry,  20,  26,  28 
Passau,  peace  of,  9 
Pastor   of  Frankfort.      See  Knox, 

Whitehead,  Horxe. 
Peace,  negotiations  for,  82,  83,  93 
Pembroke,  Lord,  Deputy  of  Calais, 

91,  129 
Perrott,  Sir  John,  129 
Petre,  89 

Philip  of  Spain,  28,  29,  69,  70,  74, 
75,   77,  83,    102,   109,  110,    116, 
135 ;  protects  Elizabeth,  132 
Pickering,  Sir  William,  74,  78,  82  ; 

submission  of,  77 
Piedmont,  Duke  of,  132 
Pilkington,  7,  38,  44 
1   Pirates,  75,  81,  82 
|   Placemen,  bill  to  exclude,  124 
Plots  against  the  Government,  83, 

84,88 
Plowden,  119,  121,  123,  131 
Pole,  Cardinal,  82,  83,  93,  118,  120, 

125,  126;  Ursula,  92 
Pollard,  Speaker,  128 
Ponet,  15 

Poole,  plan  to  invade,  88 
Pope,  acts    against    authority    of, 

repealed,  118 
Portland,  plot  to  invade,  88 
Prayer-book,  the  English,  6, 12-14, 
16-18,    20-22,    25,    27,    30-32; 
Calvin's  opinion  of,  19 ;  attacked 
by   Knox,   23;     established     at 
Frankfort,  29;   why  rejected  by 
Puritans,  38  ;  replaced  by  Mass, 
115 
Privy  Council,  disaffection  in,  84  ; 

commission  of,  120 
Protestant  Church  of  Elizabeth,  2 
Protestants  rule    England    under 
Edward  VI.,  2  ;  precarious  posi- 
tion at  his  death,  6 ;    why  the 
English  became,  140 
Psalms,  metrical  version  of  the,  41 
Pullan,  Valeran,  11,  12,  25 
j  Puritan,  origin  of  word,  19 ;  partv, 

37-45,  143 
|   Pym,  131 


Index. 


151 


R 

Raleigh,  137,  139 

Randall,  73 

Reformation  preceded  Renaissance, 
4 

Reformers  do  not  realize  differences, 
14 

Religion,  Elizabeth's  settlement  of, 
2  ;  Parliament  alters,  113,  114 

Renaissance,  4 

Renard,  Simon,  105,  132 

Residential  qualification  of  mem- 
bers, bill  for,  124 

Restoration,  the,  37 

Rhine,  the,  9,  10 

Rochester,  Bishop  of,  38 

Rouen,  exiles  at,  74  ;  Stafford  at, 
97 

Rvl.awde,  97,  98,  100 


Sacerdotalism  of  Cox,  30 ;  of  Home, 

51,64 
S.  Germain  en  Laye,  96 
S.  Quentin,  battle  of,  92 
Sampson,  38 

Sandingfield  Abbey,  89,  90 
Sandys,  44,  63 
Savoy,  Duke  of,  132 
Scarborough,  88,  98,  100,  103 
Scarcity  in  1554,  122 
Schism,  Cox  tries  to  prevent,  21, 

32  ;  not  an  unmixed  evil,  67 
Schrnalkalde  League,  '•'.  28 
Scory,  15,  38 
Scriptures.     See  Bible. 
Sea-dogs,  3,  139 
Shakespeare,  2-4 
Soranzo,  Venetian  ambassador,  101, 

105, 108, 113 ;  opinion  of  English. 

105;  condemns  juries,  111 
Southampton,  plot  against,  88 
Spaniards,  reign  in  England,  65 ; 

Euglish  hate,  72,  74.   108;    riot 

against,  109 
Spanish  Armada,  3 
Spenser,  Edmund,  2,  3 
Stafford,      Sir     Robert,     92,     95; 

Thomas,  92, 95, 101, 103,  111,  143, 

144;   claim  to  throne,  96:    pro- 


clamation of,  99  ;  executed,  100; 

William,  Lord,  92 
Staflfords,  74,  77,  88,  92-94 
Staunton,  78,  80 
Stowell,  96,  101 

Strasburg,  14-18,  20-22,  34,  64-66 
Suffolk,  Duke  of,  92 
Supremacy,  act  of,  37 
Supreme  head,  Mary  retains  title, 

115 
Surian,  Venetian  ambassador,  103, 

105 
Switzerland,  9,  10 


Te  Deum,  the,  39,  41 
Throckmorton,  Sir  John,  84,  111; 

Sir  Nicholas,  107,  111,  112 
Tower  of  London,  100 
Tradition,  rejected  by  Puritans,  26 
Treason,  charge  of  against  Knox, 

28;  repeal  of  statutes,  114 
Treherrn,  34.  48 
Tremayues,  74 
Tuckfield,  a  spy,  90 

U 

Uniformity,  act  of,  37 
Universities,  centres  of  reform,  6 
University  at  Frankfort,  34 
Uvedale,  Sir  Thomas,  84,  111 


Vannes,  English  envoy  at  Venice, 
79,  87,  SS 

Venetian  ambassadors,  2.  See  Mi- 
chiel,  Soranzo,  Surtax. 

Venice,  79,  87,  92 

Verses,  division  of  Bible  into,  40 

Vestments,  abandoned  by  Angli- 
cans, 16;  abandoned  at  Frank- 
fort, 20 

Virginia,  137,  139 

Vyret,  21 

W 

Warbeck,  Perkin,  106 
Wesel,  9,  10 

Westmorland,  Earl  of,  99 
Weymouth,  plot  to  invade,  88 


152 


Index. 


Whitehead,  33,  34,  47,  48,  55 

Whittingham,  8,  11,  13,  18-20,  25- 
27,  30,  32-35,  37,  41,  42,  45,  49 

Wiburne,  Percival,  7,  38 

Wight,  Isle  of,  plots  against,  78, 
83, 88 ;  governor  of,  see  Uvedale. 

Willford,  62 

Williams,  33 

Willoughby,  Sir  William,  138 

Winchester,  Bishop  of.  See  Gar- 
diner. 

Wolsey,  Cardinal,  140 

Worcester,  37 


Wotton,  English  ambassador,  73, 
76-80,  85,  89,  94-98,  104 

Wyatt,  Sir  Thomas,  70-72,  83,  109, 
111 


Yarmouth,  plot  to  invade,  88 


Zurich,  9,  10,  14-16,  18-20.  34,  42- 

46,66 
Zwingle,  6,  9 


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